Thermodynamic behavior of a phase transition in a model for sympatric speciation.

We investigate the macroscopic effects of the ingredients that drive the origin of species through sympatric speciation. In our model, sympatric speciation is obtained as we tune up the strength of competition between individuals with different phenotypes. As a function of this control parameter, we can characterize, through the behavior of a macroscopic order parameter, a phase transition from a nonspeciation to a speciation state of the system. The behavior of the first derivative of the order parameter with respect to the control parameter is consistent with a phase transition and exhibits a sharp peak at the transition point. For different resources distribution, the transition point is shifted, an effect similar to pressure in a PVT system. The inverse of the parameter related to a sexual selection strength behaves like an external field in the system and, as thus, is also a control parameter. The macroscopic effects of the biological parameters used in our model are a reminiscent of the behavior of thermodynamic quantities in a phase transition of an equilibrium physical system.

Simulations of a mortality plateau in the sexual Penna model for biological aging.

The Penna model is a strategy to simulate the genetic dynamics of age-structured populations, in which the individual genomes are represented by bit strings. It provides a simple metaphor for the evolutionary process in terms of the mutation accumulation theory. In its original version, an individual dies due to inherited diseases when its current number of accumulated mutations, n, reaches a threshold value T. Since the mean number of diseases increases with age, the probability to die is zero for very young ages (n < T) and equals 1 for the old ones (n > or = T). Here, instead of using a step function to determine the genetic death age, we test several other functions that may or may not slightly increase the death probability at young ages (n < T), but that decrease this probability at old ones. Our purpose is to study the oldest old effect, that is, a plateau in the mortality curves at advanced ages. By imposing certain conditions, it has been possible to obtain a clear plateau using the Penna model. However, a more realistic one appears when a modified version, that keeps the population size fixed without fluctuations, is used. We also find a relation between the birth rate, the age structure of the population, and the death probability.

Simple bit-string model for lineage branching.

We introduce a population dynamics model, where individual genomes are represented by bit strings. Selection is described by death probabilities which depend on these genomes, and new individuals continuously replace the ones that die, keeping the population constant. An offspring has the same genome as its (randomly chosen) parent, except for a small amount of (also random) mutations. Chance may thus generate a newborn with a genome that is better than that of its parent, and the newborn will have a smaller death probability. When this happens, this individual is a would-be founder of a new lineage. A new lineage is considered created if the number of its live descendants grows above a certain previously defined threshold. The time evolution of populations evolving under these rules is followed by computer simulations and the probability densities of lineage duration and size, among others, are computed. These densities show a scale-free behavior, in accordance with some conjectures in paleoevolution, and suggesting a simple mechanism as explanation for the ubiquity of these power laws.

Evolutionary advantage of diploidal over polyploidal sexual reproduction.

We modify the Penna model for biological aging, which is based on the mutation-accumulation theory, in order to verify if there would be any evolutionary advantage of triploid over diploid organisms. We show that this is not the case, and that diploidal sex is always better than that involving three individuals.

Simulated ecology-driven sympatric speciation.

We introduce a multilocus genetically acquired phenotype, submitted to mutations and with selective value, in an age-structured model for biological aging. This phenotype describes a single-trait effect of the environment on an individual, and we study the resulting distribution of this trait among the population. In particular, our simulations show that the appearance of a double phenotypic attractor in the ecology induces the emergence of a stable polymorphism, as observed in the Galapagos finches. In the presence of this polymorphism, the simulations generate short-term speciation, when mating preferences are also allowed to suffer mutations and acquire selective value.