Evolutionary freezing in a competitive population

We show that evolution in a population of adaptive agents, repeatedly compe ting for a limited resource, can come to an abrupt halt. This transition fr om evolutionary to non-evolutionary behavior arises as the global resource level is changed, and is reminiscent of a phase transition to a frozen stat e. Its origin lies in the inductive decision-making of the agents, the limi ted global information that they possess and the dynamic feedback inherent in the system. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.