Eradication thresholds in epidemiology, conservation biology and genetics

A simple model has been used to describe metapopulation dynamics, the spread of an infectious disease, and the dynamics of transposable elements (TEs). This suggests underlying common dynamics despite the different nature of the systems. Eradication thresholds are derived from the common model and they are interpreted for each system. TEs have been viewed as intragenomic parasites. Thus, some ideas derived from epidemiology, and in particular the existence of such eradication thresholds, can be used to explain some evolutionary puzzles such as the strange distribution of TE families within the phylogeny of host species. (C) 1998 Academic Press.