title: Not just a theory--the utility of mathematical models in evolutionary biology.
abstract: Progress in science often begins with verbal hypotheses meant to explain why certain biological phenomena exist. An important purpose of mathematical models in evolutionary research, as in many other fields, is to act as “proof-of-concept” tests of the logic in verbal explanations, paralleling the way in which empirical data are used to test hypotheses. Because not all subfields of biology use mathematics for this purpose, misunderstandings of the function of proof-of-concept modeling are common. In the hope of facilitating communication, we discuss the role of proof-of-concept modeling in evolutionary biology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America.
authors.forename: Maria R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Servedio
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, St. Paul, Minnesota, United States of America.
authors.forename: Yaniv
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Brandvain
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America.
authors.forename: Sumit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dhole
authors.affiliation: National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent), Durham, North Carolina, United States of America.
authors.forename: Courtney L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Fitzpatrick
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, St. Paul, Minnesota, United States of America.
authors.forename: Emma E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America; Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States of America.
authors.forename: Caitlin A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Stern
authors.affiliation: National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent), Durham, North Carolina, United States of America; Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Van Cleve
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America.
authors.forename: D Justin
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Yeh
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D008128:Logic; D008954:Models, Biological; D013045:Species Specificity