title: Evolution in a spatially structured population subject to rare epidemics.
abstract: We study a model that gives rise to spatially inhomogeneous population densities in a system of host individuals subject to rare, randomly distributed disease events. For stationary hosts that disperse offspring over short distances, evolutionary dynamics can lead to persistent populations with a variety of spatial structures. A mean-field analysis is shown to account for the behavior observed in simulations of a one-dimensional system, where the evolutionarily stable state corresponds to the solution of a straightforward optimization problem. In two dimensions, evolution drives the system to a stable critical state that is less well understood.
authors: Physics Department and CNCS, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
authors: J E
authors: JE
authors: Socolar
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Richards
authors: W G
authors: WG
authors: Wilson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D008954:Models, Biological; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D055585:Physical Phenomena; D010825:Physics; D011157:Population Dynamics; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013997:Time Factors