Category: Pop. Genetics

Summary: Testing whether moderate dormancy and intermediate cross-module connectivity improve adaptation and persistence for quasispecies on modular neutral networks in switching environments.

Populations evolving on neutral genotype networks can benefit from modular structure, but changing environments make that structure a mixed blessing. This experiment asks whether there is a middle ground where movement between modules is strong enough to adapt after a switch, while dormancy is long enough to buffer sudden changes without erasing local adaptation.

The script simulates quasispecies dynamics on modular neutral networks exposed to correlated environmental switching. It compares cross-module connectivity and dormancy strength to measure long-run adapted mass and lineage persistence rather than focusing on a single spectral threshold.

The scientific interest is in a three-way interaction that is usually split across separate literatures: modular neutral networks, fluctuating environments, and bet-hedging through dormancy. The experiment tests whether their combination produces an interior optimum rather than a simple monotone tradeoff.

Method: Long-run stochastic quasispecies simulations on modular neutral networks with correlated environmental switching and dormancy.

What is measured: Adapted mass, lineage persistence, performance across connectivity and dormancy settings, and evidence for an interior optimum.