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Updated: Jul 16, 2025

The Replica Set Method: A High-throughput Approach to Quantitatively Measure Caenorhabditis elegans Lifespan
Published on: June 29, 2018
Age structure, replicator equation, and the prisoner's dilemma
1School of Computation, Information and Technology, Department of Mathematics, Technical University of Munich, 85748 Garching, Germany; Comprehensive Pneumology Center (CPC)/Institute of Lung Health and Immunity (LHI), Helmholtz Center Munich, 81377 Munich, Germany.
Abstract:
We investigate the evolutionary dynamics of an age-structured population subject to weak frequency-dependent selection. It turns out that the weak selection is affected in a non-trivial way by the life-history trait. We disentangle the dynamics, based on the appearance of different time scales. These time scales, which seem to form a universal structure in the interplay of weak selection and life-history traits, allow us to reduce the infinite dimensional model to a one-dimensional modified replicator equation. The modified replicator equation is then used to investigate cooperation (the prisoner's dilemma) by means of adaptive dynamics. We identify conditions under which age structure is able to promote cooperation. At the end we discuss the relevance of our findings.
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