ISSN:
1573-7632
Keywords:
effective fitness
;
fitness landscape
;
evolution equations
;
genotype–phenotype map
;
induced symmetry breaking
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Computer Science
Notes:
Abstract In evolutionary computation the concept of a fitness landscape has played an important role, evolution itself being portrayed as a hill-climbing process on a rugged landscape. In this article we review the recent development of an alternative paradigm for evolution on a fitness landscape—effective fitness. It is shown that in general, in the presence of other genetic operators such as mutation and recombination, hill-climbing is the exception rather than the rule; a discrepancy that has its origin in the different ways in which the concept of fitness appears—as a measure of the number of fit offspring, or as a measure of the probability to reach reproductive age. Effective fitness models the former not the latter and gives an intuitive way to understand population dynamics as flows on an effective fitness landscape when genetic operators other than reproductive selection play an important role. Additionally, we will show that when the genotype-phenotype map is degenerate, i.e. there exists a synonym symmetry, it can be used to quantify the degree of symmetry breaking of the map, thus allowing for a quantitative explanation of phenomena such as self-adaptation, bloat and evolutionary robustness.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1010017207202
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