Cellular Automata Model of Macroevolution

TL;DR

This paper introduces a cellular automaton model simulating macroevolution in multi-species ecosystems, capturing emergent behaviors and species diversity dynamics through mutation and ecological interactions.

Contribution

It presents a novel cellular automaton framework allowing species emergence and extinction without fixing the number of coexisting species, unlike traditional ecological models.

Findings

Model reproduces observed macroevolutionary phenomena

Species diversity emerges dynamically from mutations

Ecological interactions influence species survival

Abstract

In this paper I describe a cellular automaton model of a multi-species ecosystem, suitable for the study of emergent properties of macroevolution. Unlike majority of ecological models, the number of coexisting species is not fixed. Starting from one common ancestor they appear by "mutations" of existent species, and then survive or extinct depending on the balance of local ecological interactions. Monte-Carlo numerical simulations show that this model is able to qualitatively reproduce phenomena that have been observed in other models and in nature.