2011/08/31 by Jonas Cremer, Anna Melbinger, Erwin Frey · 55 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · Social Sciences · #Artificial intelligence #Biology #Computer science #Demography #Dynamics (music) #Econometrics #Evolution and Genetic Dynamics #Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation #Evolutionary biology #Evolutionary dynamics #Mathematics #Physics #Plant and animal studies #Population #Population growth #Population size #Selection (genetic algorithm) #Statistical physics #Stochastic dynamics #physics.bio-ph #q-bio.PE
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreve.84.051921
published in Physical Review E 84(5), 051921 (American Physical Society) · 12 pages, 5 figures
openalex publication_date 2011/11/28 · arxiv created 2012/06/03 · arxiv updated 2012/06/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We study the interplay of population growth and evolutionary dynamics using a stochastic model based on birth and death events. In contrast to the common assumption of an independent population size, evolution can be strongly affected by population dynamics in general. Especially for fast reproducing microbes which are subject to selection, both types of dynamics are often closely intertwined. We illustrate this by considering different growth scenarios. Depending on whether microbes die or stop to reproduce (dormancy), qualitatively different behaviors emerge. For cooperating bacteria, a permanent increase of costly cooperation can occur. Even if not permanent, cooperation can still increase transiently due to demographic fluctuations. We validate our analysis via stochastic simulations and analytic calculations. In particular, we derive a condition for an increase in the level of cooperation.