title: Disorder-induced genetic divergence: a Monte Carlo study.
abstract: We present a Monte Carlo simulation of a system composed of several populations, each living in a possibly different habitat. We show the influence of landscape disorder on the genetic pool of finite populations. We demonstrate that a strongly disordered environment generates an increase of the genetic distance between the populations on identical island. The distance becomes permanent for infinitely long times. On the contrary, landscapes with weak disorder offer only a temporarily allelic divergence which vanishes in the long time limit. Similarities between these phenomena and the well-known first-order phase transitions in the thermodynamics are analyzed.
authors.affiliation: Abteilung für Theoretische Physik Universität Ulm, 89069 Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pekalski