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Speciation in complex networks

Grant number: 11/18622-2
Support Opportunities:Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
Start date: December 01, 2011
End date: November 30, 2014
Field of knowledge:Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - General Physics
Principal Investigator:Marcus Aloizio Martinez de Aguiar
Grantee:David Marcelo Schneider
Host Institution: Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin (IFGW). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The present research plan involves the extension of previous results regarding the Neutral Speciation Theory proposed by de Aguiar et al. ( Nature 460: 384-387, 2009). In this paper the authors consider an alternative mechanism of speciation to the well known Darwinian Natural Selection and predicted with good accuracy some crucial aspects of the evolutionary process. One of our goals is to connect these results, obtained by computer simulations, with the analytical theory proposed recently by the same authors (de Aguiar and Bar-Yam, Phys. Rev. E84: 031901, 2011). We will first focus our analysis on the patterns of abundance distribution, an important feature of the numerical simulations that match the empirical data but that has so far not been explained in the context of the theoretical model. In addition, we will implement computer models, based on uniform spatial grids and on networks, to understand how spatial and genetic constraints affect speciation in the presence of partial physical barriers and selection. Finally, we intend to extend the theory to encompass more complex scenarios of evolution, as the interesting case of the co-evolution of species interacting via mutualism.

News published in Agência FAPESP Newsletter about the scholarship:
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Scientific publications
(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)
DE AGUIAR, MARCUS A. M.; SCHNEIDER, DAVID M.; DO CARMO, EDUARDO; CAMPOS, PAULO R. A.; MARTINS, AYANA B.. Error catastrophe in populations under similarity-essential recombination. Journal of Theoretical Biology, v. 374, p. 48-53, . (14/04036-2, 14/10470-7, 11/18622-2)