Computational complexity of ecological and evolutionary spatial dynamics
Abstract
An important question in evolution is: how does population structure affect the outcome of the evolutionary process? The theory of evolution in structured population has provided an impressive range of results, but an understanding of the computational complexity of even simple questions was missing. We prove that some fundamental problems in ecology and evolution can be precisely characterized by well-established computational complexity classes. This implies that the problems cannot be answered by simple equations. For example, there cannot be simple formulas for the fixation probability of a mutant given frequency-dependent selection in a structured population. We also show that, for example, calculating the molecular clock of neutral evolution in structured populations admit efficient algorithmic solutions.
- Publication:
-
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- December 2015
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.1511366112
- Bibcode:
- 2015PNAS..11215636I