Fitness landscapes and evolution
Abstract
The concept of fitness is introduced, and a simple derivation of the Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection (which states that the average fitness of a population increases if its variance is nonzero) is given. After a short discussion of the adaptative walk model, a short review is given of the quasispecies approach to molecular evolution and to the error threshold. The relevance of flat fitness landscapes to molecular evolution is stressed. Finally a few examples which involve wider concepts of fitness, and in particular two-level selection, are shortly reviewed.
- Publication:
-
arXiv e-prints
- Pub Date:
- May 1995
- arXiv:
- arXiv:cond-mat/9505003
- Bibcode:
- 1995cond.mat..5003P
- Keywords:
-
- Condensed Matter;
- Quantitative Biology - Populations and Evolution
- E-Print:
- 27 pages, no figures, plain LaTeX (article.sty)