Dynamics of Developmentally Constrained Populations

Abstract

The structure of biological organisms is known to be subject to developmental constraints [1]. The possible effects of such constraints on the evolutionary fate of species have been the center of much debate lately [2]. In the present work, I investigate, by computer simulation, the dynamics of populations in which each individual is endowed with a developmental program responsible for expressing in a constrained fashion its genotype into a set of phenotypic characters. I find that survival of species may be enhanced by certain types of developmental mechanisms: these are nonlinear and involve three basic ingredients, namely

• error correction (many small mutations have no phenotypic effect);

• pleiotropism (one mutation may affect more than a single phenotypic character);

• polygenic inheritance (a given phenotypic character is under the dependence of many genes).