Informations in models of evolutionary dynamics

TL;DR

This paper reviews how information processing in biological evolution can be quantified through mathematical models, revealing both universal and unique features of information dynamics in populations.

Contribution

It introduces a framework for analyzing information in evolutionary models and provides explicit solutions for a solvable subclass, highlighting novel insights into biological information processing.

Findings

Explicit results for a subclass of models

Universal links to communication and thermodynamics

Unique features of biological information processing

Abstract

Biological organisms adapt to changes by processing informations from different sources, most notably from their ancestors and from their environment. We review an approach to quantify these informations by analyzing mathematical models of evolutionary dynamics, and show how explicit results are obtained for a solvable subclass of these models. In several limits, the results coincide with those obtained in studies of information processing for communication, gambling or thermodynamics. In the most general case, however, information processing by biological populations shows unique features that motivate the analysis of specific models.