title: Evolution Arrests Invasions of Cooperative Populations.
abstract: Population expansions trigger many biomedical and ecological transitions, from tumor growth to invasions of non-native species. Although population spreading often selects for more invasive phenotypes, we show that this outcome is far from inevitable. In cooperative populations, mutations reducing dispersal have a competitive advantage. Such mutations then steadily accumulate at the expansion front, bringing invasion to a halt. Our findings are a rare example of evolution driving the population into an unfavorable state, and they could lead to new strategies to combat unwelcome invaders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Graduate Program in Bioinformatics, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Kirill S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Korolev
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007313:Insecta; D058865:Introduced Species; D008954:Models, Biological; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D011157:Population Dynamics