How self-organization can guide evolution.

ABSTRACT: Self-organization and natural selection are fundamental forces that shape the natural world. Substantial progress in understanding how these forces interact has been made through the study of abstract models. Further progress may be made by identifying a model system in which the interaction between self-organization and selection can be investigated empirically. To this end, we investigate how the self-organizing thermoregulatory huddling behaviours displayed by many species of mammals might influence natural selection of the genetic components of metabolism. By applying a simple evolutionary algorithm to a well-established model of the interactions between environmental, morphological, physiological and behavioural components of thermoregulation, we arrive at a clear, but counterintuitiv

SUBMITTER: Glancy J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5180142 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature