TBI-Preprint: Landscapes and Effective Fitness

TBI-Preprint 02-pfs-012

Titel:
Landscapes and Effective Fitness

Author(s):
Peter F. Stadler, Christopher R. Stephens

Submitted for publication in:
Comments in Theoretical Biology, (2002)

Abstract:
The concept of a fitness landscape arose in theoretical biology, while that of effective fitness has its origin in evolutionary computation. Both have emerged as useful conceptual tools with which to understand the dynamics of evolutionary processes, especially in the presence of complex genotype-phenotype relations. In this contribution we attempt to provide a unified discussion of these two approaches, discussing both their advantages and disadvantages in the context of some simple models. We also discuss how fitness and effective fitness change under various transformations of the configuration space of the underlying genetic model, concentrating on coarse graining transformations and on a particular coordinate transformation that provides an appropriate basis for illuminating the structure and consequences of recombination.

Keywords:
fitness landscapes, effective fitness, quasispecies, recombination, population genetics, evolutionary computation

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Last modified: Mon Sep 16 12:49:21 CEST 2002