Invasion exponents in biological networks

Lloyd Demetrius, Volker Matthias Gundlach and Gunter Ochs

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2009, vol. 388, issue 5, 651-672

Abstract: This article is concerned with the characterization of invasion exponents in biological networks defined by a population of replicating elements: molecules, cells, higher organisms. We show that the outcome of competition between an invader and a resident population is a stochastic process, determined by the rate at which a population returns to its steady state after a random perturbation in the parameters that characterize the replicating elements. This return rate is defined by the macroscopic parameter evolutionary entropy, a measure of the diversity of the interaction between the individuals in the population. We also show that the evolutionary stability of a population, that is the invulnerability of a resident to the introduction of an invader competing for the available resources, are given by extremal states of entropy. These results which pertain to networks of interacting molecules, cells and higher organisms, are generalizations of results established for demographic networks, that is populations of replicating organisms parametrized by the ages at which they reproduce and die.

Keywords: Evolutionary stable strategy; Evolutionary entropy; Demographic variance; Reproductive potential; Invasion exponents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378437108008996
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only. Journal offers the option of making the article available online on Science direct for a fee of $3,000

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:388:y:2009:i:5:p:651-672

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2008.10.048

Access Statistics for this article

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications is currently edited by K. A. Dawson, J. O. Indekeu, H.E. Stanley and C. Tsallis

More articles in Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().