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<p>Evolution (Biology) -- Mathematical models<br />Phase transformations (Statistical physics)<br />Biodiversity<br />Species<br />Extinction (Biology)<br />Phenotype<br />Genotype-environment interaction</p>
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Evolutionary Dynamics Of Speciation And Extinction, Dawn Michelle King
Evolutionary Dynamics Of Speciation And Extinction, Dawn Michelle King
Doctoral Dissertations
Presented here is an interdisciplinary study that draws connections between the fields of physics, mathematics, and evolutionary biology. Importantly, as we move through the Anthropocene Epoch, where human-driven climate change threatens biodiversity, understanding how an evolving population responds to extinction stress could be key to saving endangered ecosystems. With a neutral, agent-based model that incorporates the main principles of Darwinian evolution, such as heritability, variability, and competition, the dynamics of speciation and extinction is investigated. The simulated organisms evolve according to the reaction-diffusion rules of the 2D directed percolation universality class. Offspring are generated according to one of three reproduction …