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Landscape disorder significantly impacts finite populations. Strong disorder permanently increases genetic distance between populations, while weak disorder causes temporary divergence, mirroring thermodynamic phase transitions.

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Area of Science:

  • Population genetics
  • Ecological modeling
  • Computational biology

Background:

  • Understanding how environmental heterogeneity affects population genetics is crucial.
  • Finite populations are susceptible to various evolutionary pressures.
  • Landscape disorder can influence gene flow and genetic diversity.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the influence of landscape disorder on the genetic pool of finite populations.
  • To quantify the effect of environmental heterogeneity on genetic distance.
  • To explore similarities with thermodynamic phase transitions.

Main Methods:

  • Monte Carlo simulation of multiple populations in diverse habitats.
  • Analysis of genetic distance under varying degrees of landscape disorder.
  • Long-term temporal analysis of allelic divergence.

Main Results:

  • Strongly disordered environments increase genetic distance between populations on identical islands, leading to permanent divergence.
  • Weakly disordered environments cause temporary allelic divergence that diminishes over time.
  • The observed phenomena show parallels with first-order phase transitions in thermodynamics.

Conclusions:

  • Landscape disorder is a significant factor shaping population genetic structure.
  • Environmental disorder can lead to persistent genetic differentiation or transient divergence.
  • The study highlights a link between ecological dynamics and physical concepts like phase transitions.