Additional Potential Lab Exercises on Evolution

Simulating Evolution

There are very many simulations of evolving populations: indeed, most theoretical research in evolution now involves some kind of simulation.

Some simple examples can be found at the PBS Evolution site.

EvoBeaker provides a sophisticated simulation package for teaching.

EvoTutor is simpler, but free.

MS and SimCoal are two of many packages that simulate the coalescent process .

Nemo simulates structured populations.

Artificial Life

In contrast to simulations of definite evolutionary models, artificial life sets up open-ended simulations that may evolve in unexpected ways. The International Society of Artificial Life keeps a list of programs. A popular system is Avida, from the Digital Life Laboratory.