Modelling evolution in structured populations using multiplayer interactions
Speaker:  – City, University of London, United KingdomÂ
Abstract: Since 2005 models of evolution have incorporated structured populations, including spatial structure, through the modelling of evolutionary processes on graphs (evolutionary graph theory). One limitation of this otherwise quite general framework is that interactions are restricted to pairwise ones, through the edges connecting pairs of individuals. Yet many animal interactions can involve many individuals, and theoretical models also describe such multi-player interactions. We shall discuss a more general modelling framework of interactions of structured populations where multi-player contests involving groups of variable size are included. We can embed the results of different evolutionary games within our structure, as occurs for pairwise games such as the Prisoner's Dilemma or the Hawk-Dove game on graphs. We will also discuss multiplayer games more generally in the context of the evolution of cooperative behaviour.
