A MODEL OF POPULATION-DYNAMICS

A model describing the evolution of a sexual population in a selective environment is presented. The population is composed of individuals e ach characterized by its phenotype and age. Within the standard Monte Carlo simulation technique, we calculate the time dependence of the av erage fitness, average adaptation to the environment and the distribut ion of the phenotypes, We show that the former quantities exhibit damp ed oscillations, meaning that in the absence of mutations the populati on is driven by the selection to a homogeneous one. The distribution o f the phenotypes, as well as the adaptation is Gaussian at each time s tep of the process. The role of the maximum age and length of the gene ric strings on the dynamics of the population is also discussed. (C) 1 998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.