Spontaneous genetic clustering in populations of competing organisms

TL;DR

This paper presents an individual-based evolutionary model demonstrating how demographic noise can induce spontaneous genotypic clustering, supporting the idea that stochasticity plays a key role in species formation.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel model showing how stochastic effects amplify pattern formation, leading to spontaneous genetic clustering in competing populations.

Findings

Genetic clusters form spontaneously due to demographic noise.

Pattern-forming instability is highly amplified by stochastic effects.

The model supports the role of stochasticity in species coherence.

Abstract

We introduce and analyse an individual-based evolutionary model, in which a population of genetically diverse organisms compete with each other for limited resources. Through theoretical analysis and stochastic simulations, we show that the model exhibits a pattern-forming instability which is highly amplified by the effects of demographic noise, leading to the spontaneous formation of genotypic clusters. This mechanism supports the thesis that stochasticity has a central role in the formation and coherence of species.