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Chronological rank in biological evolution

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E Ben-Naim1 and P L Krapivsky2

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LETTER

We present a statistical analysis of biological evolution processes. Specifically, we study the stochastic replication–mutation–death model where the population of a species may grow or shrink by birth or death, respectively, and additionally, mutations lead to the creation of new species. We rank the various species by the chronological order by which they originate. The average population Nk of the kth species decays algebraically with rank, Nk ~ Mμk−μ, where M is the average total population. The characteristic exponent μ = (α − γ)/(α + β − γ) depends on α, β, and γ, the replication, mutation, and death rates. Furthermore, the average population Pk of all descendants of the kth species has a universal algebraic behaviour, Pk ~ M k−1.


Keywords

models for evolution (theory)

 

E-print Number: q-bio.PE/0508023

Cited: by |

Refers: to

PACS

87.23.Kg Dynamics of evolution

87.23.Cc Population dynamics and ecological pattern formation

02.50.Cw Probability theory

MSC

60B15 Probability measures on groups, Fourier transforms, factorization

92D10 Genetics (For genetic algebras, see 17D92)

92D15 Problems related to evolution

92D25 Population dynamics (general)

Subjects

Computational physics

Environmental and Earth science

Dates

Issue 10 (October 2005)

Received 18 August 2005, accepted for publication 4 October 2005

Published 18 October 2005



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