Population genetic models of dormancy

TL;DR

This paper explores the mathematical modeling of dormancy in populations, introducing new diffusion models and coalescent processes to better understand the evolutionary impact of seed banks and dormancy mechanisms.

Contribution

It presents novel mathematical models, including seed bank diffusion with jumps and coalescent processes, to analyze dormancy effects in population genetics.

Findings

Introduction of seed bank diffusion with jumps

Development of seed bank coalescent with switching

Mathematical characterization of dormancy effects

Abstract

In the present article, we investigate the effects of dormancy on an abstract population genetic level. We first provide a short review of seed bank models in population genetics, and the role of dormancy for the interplay of evolutionary forces in general, before we discuss two recent paradigmatic models, referring to spontaneous resp. simultaneous switching of individuals between the active and the dormant state. We show that both mechanisms give rise to non-trivial mathematical objects, namely the (continuous) seed bank diffusion and the seed bank diffusion with jumps, as well as their dual processes, the seed bank coalescent and the seed bank coalescent with simultaneous switching.