Universal principles of evolutionary adaptation

Principal Investigator: Joanna Masel, University of Arizona

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Overview
Team

This project seeks to build mathematical models that clarify core distinctions between different biological functions and in the process provide a formal framework that unifies relative and absolute selective pressures on individuals and groups. In particular, they will provide a new general theory of evolution, potentially applicable to other fields such as economics, that models trait changes toward both selective goals at different levels without oversimplifying these trajectories to a single goal of “fitness” or “utility.” A key output of this work is conceptual clarity regarding key distinctions among biological functions and the organismal agency to allocate resources among them, as embodied in formal models of consumable resources, sexual selection, and the tragedy of the commons, which will be of interest to a wide range of evolutionary researchers.

Joanna Masel

Joanna Masel

Cluster:
Modeling Agency Formally
Project:
Universal principles of evolutionary adaptation
Role:
Subaward Principal Investigator

Joanna Masel is a mathematical modeler and data scientist whose researches foundational questions about how evolution works. These include the population genetic basis for evolvability, applications of evolvability theories to the de novo birth of genes from junk DNA, and subsequent directionality in protein evolution. They also include the puzzle of how populations withstand high rates of deleterious mutation, and the search for general principles to organize the enormous variety of adaptations/goals we observe in nature and tension among them. As well as evolutionary biology, she also dabbles in many other fields from biochemistry to education to economics, and most recently, pandemic tech.

Fiona McCann

Fiona McCann

Cluster:
Modeling Agency Formally
Project:
Universal principles of evolutionary adaptation

Fiona McCann (she/her/hers) is a second year graduate student in the Applied Math PhD program at the University of Arizona. She received her Bachelor's in Science in Applied Math with a secondary major in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is interested in new ways that math modeling can affect current research within psychology/psychiatry, biology, and ecology. With past research in modeling bipolar disorder, empathy, and cannibalism, Fiona's current research regards population dynamics via a novel approach for the lottery model.

Matthew McCaskey

Matthew McCaskey

Cluster:
Modeling Agency Formally
Project:
Universal principles of evolutionary adaptation

I am a second year applied math PhD student at the University of Arizona, currently working in Dr. Joanna Masel's lab. I am primarily interested in ecology, evolution, and population genetics. My past research includes topics such as protein evolution, and the evolution of multicellularity.

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