Optimizing epochal evolutionary search: population-size independent theory

Epochal dynamics, in which long periods of stasis in population fitness are punctuated by sudden innovations, is a common behavior in both natural and artificial evolutionary processes. We use a recent quantitative mathematic al analysis of epochal evolution to estimate, as a function of population s ize and mutation rate, the average number of fitness function evaluations t o reach the global optimum. This is then used to derive estimates of and bo unds on evolutionary parameters that minimize search effort. (C) 2000 Elsev ier Science S.A. All rights reserved.