Baronchelli, Andrea, Chater, Nick, Christiansen, Morten H. and Pastor-Satorras, R. (2013) Evolution in a changing environment. PLoS ONE, Vol.8 (No.1). e52742. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0052742

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Abstract

We propose a simple model for genetic adaptation to a changing environment, describing a fitness landscape characterized by two maxima. One is associated with "specialist" individuals that are adapted to the environment; this maximum moves over time as the environment changes. The other maximum is static, and represents "generalist" individuals not affected by environmental changes. The rest of the landscape is occupied by "maladapted" individuals. Our analysis considers the evolution of these three subpopulations. Our main result is that, in presence of a sufficiently stable environmental feature, as in the case of an unchanging aspect of a physical habitat, specialists can dominate the population. By contrast, rapidly changing environmental features, such as language or cultural habits, are a moving target for the genes; here, generalists dominate, because the best evolutionary strategy is to adopt neutral alleles not specialized for any specific environment. The model we propose is based on simple assumptions about evolutionary dynamics and describes all possible scenarios in a non-trivial phase diagram. The approach provides a general framework to address such fundamental issues as the Baldwin effect, the biological basis for language, or the ecological consequences of a rapid climate change.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	Q Science > QA Mathematics Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Behavioural Science
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Adaptation (Biology) -- Mathematical models
Journal or Publication Title:	PLoS ONE
Publisher:	Public Library of Science
ISSN:	1932-6203
Official Date:	January 2013
Dates:	Date Event January 2013 Published
Volume:	Vol.8
Number:	No.1
Page Range:	e52742
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pone.0052742
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
Funder:	Spain. Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (MEC), Andalusia (Spain), Catalonia (Spain)
Grant number:	FIS2010-21781-C02-01 (MEC), P09-FQM4682 (JA)

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