Faculty Sponsor
Sonya Bahar
Final Abstract for URS Program
In an agent-based model of evolutionary dynamics which has been shown to undergo a nonequilibrium phase transition from extinction to survival, we apply coalescent theory to investigate the responses of population lineages to simulated mass extinctions. In the model, organisms reproduce via assortative mating on a neutral fitness landscape; parameters including the mutability (distance offspring may be distributed away from their parents in the fitness landscape) and the death parameter (percentage of organisms randomly removed during each generation) control the phase transition. Lineage structure can be characterized using the time to most recent common ancestor (TMRCA). We examine how this measure is affected by mass extinction applied in the critical regime of the phase transition, as opposed to in the survival regime. These results have implications for predicting population recovery and designing strategies for evolutionary rescue.
Presentation Type
Visual Presentation
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
April 2023
Included in
Biological and Chemical Physics Commons, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics Commons