Nonmonotonic effects of migration in subdivided populations.
The influence of migration on the stochastic dynamics of subdivided populations is still an open issue in various evolutionary models. Here, we develop a self-consistent mean-field-like method in order to determine the effects of migration on relevant nonequilibrium properties, such as the mean fixation time. If evolution strongly favors coexistence of species (e.g., balancing selection), the mean fixation time develops an unexpected minimum as a function of the migration rate. Our analysis hinges only on the presence of a separation of time scales between local and global dynamics, and therefore, it carries over to other nonequilibrium processes in physics, biology, ecology, and social sciences.
SISSA-International School for Advanced Studies and INFN, via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste, Italy.
Pierangelo
P
Lombardo
SISSA-International School for Advanced Studies and INFN, via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste, Italy.
Andrea
A
Gambassi
Department of Applied Science and Technology-DISAT, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy and Collegio Carlo Alberto, Via Real Collegio 30, 10024 Moncalieri, Italy.
Luca
L
Dall'Asta
D025041:Animal Migration; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D017753:Ecosystem; D005828:Genetics, Population / Q000379:methods*; D008957:Models, Genetic; D011157:Population Dynamics