title: Evolving an ecology of mathematical expressions with grammatical evolution.
abstract: This paper describes the use of grammatical evolution to obtain an ecology of artificial beings associated with mathematical functions, whose fitness is also defined mathematically. The system allows "parasite" species and "parasites of parasites" to develop, and supports the simultaneous evolution of several ecological niches. The use of standard measurements makes it possible to explore the influence of the number of niches or the presence of parasites on "biological" diversity and similar functions. Our results suggest that some of the features of biological evolution depend more on the genetic substrate and natural selection than on the actual phenotypic expression of that substrate.
authors.affiliation: Escuela Politécnica Superior, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Francisco Tomás y Valiente, 11, Campus de Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain. Manuel.Alfonseca@uam.es
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alfonseca
authors.forename: Francisco José
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Soler Gil
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D017753:Ecosystem; D007802:Language; D008433:Mathematics; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012660:Semantics; D009626:Terminology as Topic