Åke Brännström: Adaptive dynamics for spatially-structured populations

Spatial structure can decisively influence evolutionary processes. Several methods have been used to study evolution in spatial systems, including population genetics, quantitative genetics, moment-closure approximations, and individual-based models. In this talk, I will discuss how adaptive-dynamics techniques can be used to study eco-evolutionary models based on metapopulations and reaction-diffusion equations. Determining selection in spatially-structured populations can be tricky as a simple arithmetic average of local selection pressures usually gives the wrong answer. I will show how selection can be determined by a weighted average provided that the operator corresponding to the population dynamics is self-adjoint. I will illustrate how the result can be used to investigate evolution of resource competition in space. My presentation builds on joint work with Bernt Blasius, Sebiastian Dieh, Chris Klausmeier, Alexey Ryabov and Jonas Wickman.
Reference: J Wickman, S Diehl, B Blasius, CA Klausmeier, AB Ryabov, Å Brännström. Determining selection across heterogeneous landscapes: a perturbation-based method and its application to modeling evolution in space. The American Naturalist 189 (4), 381-395