Wild, Gardner & West reply

Replying to: M. J. Wade et al. Nature 463, 10.1038/nature08809 (2010)We previously showed how inclusive-fitness theory separates various components of selection on parasite virulence. Wade et al. do not seem to dispute our results or make new predictions. Instead, they state that insufficient attention was given to multilevel-selection theory. However, we pointed out the links to multi-level selection, and we believe that a misunderstanding has arisen because they have fundamentally conflated selection and adaptation.