How morphology of artificial organisms influences their evolution
Authored by N Bessonov, N Reinberg, V Volpert
Date Published: 2015
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecocom.2015.09.005
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Abstract
The purpose of this work is to study virtual populations of artificial
organisms with their genotype, morphology, mechanism of motion, search
and competition for food, reproduction, mutations. The genotype
determines the phenotype (morphology), while morphology determines
efficiency of motion and success in the search for food in the
competition with other individuals; sufficient amount of food allows
reproduction. Ensemble of these elements constitutes the minimal model
to study natural selection of artificial organisms. Considering only
some of them, as it is often the case in artificial life models, can be
used for the optimization of some properties (for example, robot's gait
or embryo's form) but not to study natural selection in the evolutionary
context.
Artificial organisms are considered in this work in the form of polygons
(triangles) on the plane. Their genotype is given by three positive
numbers associated to the vertices and their morphology is determined by
the lengths of the sides equal the sum of the numbers in the adjacent
vertices. Behavior of the individuals and their success in the search
for food depend on their morphology. More efficient individuals will
reproduce more than the others and will transmit their advantageous
variations to their offsprings. Hence we can observe how natural
selection chooses more efficient morphology and how it evolves due to
random mutations.
We develop an individual based model where the individuals recognize
food and move to it with the speed determined by their morphology (and
not prescribed in the algorithm). If they have enough food, they survive
and reproduce. Therefore morphology and evolution are tightly
interconnected and should be studied together. Dynamics of such
populations appears to be different from the dynamics described by
conventional models of competition and evolution of species. In
particular, a new phenotype can emerge due to a different strategy of
foraging (related to a different morphology) and not only due to a
difference in consumed resources with the existing phenotype. We also
observe that realization of Cope's rule (increase of body size in the
process of evolution) can depend on parameters of the model. (C) 2015
Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Tags
Dynamics
Shape
Embryogeny