APS » PROLA » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 71 » Issue 24

Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 4083 - 4086 (1993)

Punctuated equilibrium and criticality in a simple model of evolution

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Per Bak
Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973

Kim Sneppen
Niels Bohr Institute, Blegdamsvej 17, 2100 Copenhagen O/, Denmark

Received 7 July 1993

A simple and robust model of biological evolution of an ecology of interacting species is introduced. The model self-organizes into a critical steady state with intermittent coevolutionary avalanches of all sizes; i.e., it exhibits ‘‘punctuated equilibrium’’ behavior. This collaborative evolution is much faster than non-cooperative scenarios since no large and coordinated, and hence prohibitively unlikely, mutations are involved.


©1993 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v71/p4083
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.71.4083
PACS: 87.10.+e, 05.40.+j

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