Category: Pop. Genetics

Summary: Testing whether dormancy and moderately persistent migration corridors together delay Muller's ratchet more than either mechanism alone under correlated shocks.

Muller's ratchet describes the irreversible buildup of deleterious mutations in finite populations, and several known rescue mechanisms can slow that process. This experiment asks whether two of those mechanisms, seed-bank dormancy and pulsed migration corridors, reinforce one another under spatially correlated environmental shocks.

The script simulates metapopulations exposed to correlated disturbances while varying both dormancy and corridor persistence. Its core hypothesis is a superadditive effect: intermediate corridor memory may rescue weakened demes at the right times, while the seed bank preserves lineages long enough to take advantage of those openings.

That makes the project a mechanism-combination study rather than a single-parameter sweep. The key question is whether the combined intervention creates a stronger delay of ratchet clicks than either ingredient can achieve on its own.

Method: Stochastic Muller's-ratchet simulations on shocked metapopulations with variable seed-bank dormancy and pulsed migration-corridor persistence.

What is measured: Ratchet-click timing, rescue or persistence effects, interaction between dormancy and corridor persistence, and support for superadditive delay.