Motion, fixation probability and the choice of an evolutionary process.

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary biology
• Mathematical modeling
• Computational simulations

Background:

• Mathematical models of evolution show population structure impacts evolutionary outcomes.
• Birth-death dynamics can amplify selection, while death-birth processes may suppress it.
• Real biological populations often have dynamic, not static, interaction structures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how time-dependent interaction structures in flowing populations affect evolutionary dynamics.
• To compare the effects of motion on the fixation probability of invading mutants across different birth-death processes.
• To systematically analyze how flow speed influences evolutionary selection.

Main Methods:

• Computer simulations of populations embedded in a flowing medium.
• Analysis of evolutionary dynamics under different coupled birth and death processes.
• Varying flow speeds to interpolate between static and well-stirred population models.

Main Results:

• Population motion actively influences selection by fragmenting and reconnecting interaction networks.
• Increasing flow speeds generally suppress selection, but this effect is model-dependent.
• Intermediate flow speeds can lead to maximal enhancement or suppression of selection.

Conclusions:

• Dynamic population structure, driven by motion, plays a crucial role in evolutionary processes.
• The speed of movement in a flowing medium can be tuned to amplify or suppress natural selection.
• Specific evolutionary update rules exhibit characteristic responses to flow, highlighting the complexity of dynamic populations.