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SUMMARY:If the fittest never arrive\, then they can't survive:  on the top
 ology of evolutionary search. - Prof. Ard A Louis\, Rudolf Peierls Centre 
 for Theoretical Physics\, Oxford University
DTSTART:20140502T130000Z
DTEND:20140502T140000Z
UID:TALK52059@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Eileen Nugent
DESCRIPTION:Darwinian evolution proceeds in two steps. Firstly\, there is 
 variation: due to mutations\, different members of a population may have d
 ifferences in traits. Secondly\, there is selection: if the variation in a
  trait allows an organism to have more viable offspring\, to be 'fitter'\,
  then that trait will eventually come to dominate in the population.    Bu
 t is that variation generated in a uniform fashion\, or could there be bia
 ses in the way it appears?    Some general considerations of genotype-phen
 otype maps  and evolutionary search suggest that A) Because of neutral mut
 ations\, the number of genotypes is typically much larger than the number 
 of possible phenotypes and B) These genotypes are not uniformly distribute
 d\, but rather highly biased towards an exponentially small fraction of "f
 requent' phenotypes that are therefore much more likely to arise by random
  mutations.   These large differences in the rates at which traits can arr
 ive through variation may direct evolution towards outcomes that are not s
 imply the 'fittest'.  Instead it may be that the most 'frequent' are so mu
 ch more likely to arrive\, that they are the ones who survive.  \n\nsee al
 so \n"The arrival of the frequent: how bias in genotype-phenotype maps can
  steer populations to local optima":http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3A
 doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0086635 \nSteffen Schaper and Ard A. Louis \n
 PLoS ONE 9(2): e86635 (2014)
LOCATION:Small Lecture Theatre\, Cavendish Laboratory
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