Emergence of a complex and stable network in a model ecosystem with extinction and mutation.

TL;DR: The long-time dynamical properties of two individual-based models of biological coevolution, which self-optimize through mutation and selection to approximately maximize a community potential function, are compared.

TL;DR: In this article, a version of the Tangled Nature model of evolutionary ecology is defined in a phenotype space where mutants have properties correlated to their parents, and a study of the dependence of average degree on the resource level is conducted.

TL;DR: In this paper, the mean number of equilibrium points in a system of $N$ random autonomous ODE's introduced by Cugliandolo et al. in 1997 to describe non-relaxational glassy dynamics on the high-dimensional sphere was calculated.

Abstract: We introduce an Interaction and Trade-off based Eco-Evolutionary Model (ITEEM), in which species are competing for resources in a well-mixed system, and their evolution in interaction trait space is subject to a life-history trade-off between replication rate and competitive ability. We demonstrate that the strength of the trade-off has a fundamental impact on eco-evolutionary dynamics, as it imposes four phases of diversity, including a sharp phase transition. Despite its minimalism, ITEEM produces without further ad hoc features a remarkable range of observed patterns of eco-evolutionary dynamics. Most notably we find self-organization towards structured communities with high and sustainable diversity, in which competing species form interaction cycles similar to rock-paper-scissors games.

TL;DR: The neutral theory as discussed by the authors states that the great majority of evolutionary changes at the molecular level are caused not by Darwinian selection but by random drift of selectively neutral mutants, which has caused controversy ever since.

TL;DR: It is stated that these sequences differed in the cytochromes c of various species to an extent that seemed unnecessary from the standpoint of their function.

TL;DR: A study of the issue indicates that it is not a serious problem for neutral theory, and there is sometimes a difference between some of the simulation-based results of Hubbell and the analytical results of Volkov et al. (2003).