IPLS Seminar: Prof. Arne Traulsen (MPI for Evolutionary Biology)

Abstract: Both theoretical ecology and evolutionary game theory describe the dynamics of interacting populations. More than 40 years ago, Hofbauer and Sigmund established a mathematical equivalence between the Lotka-Volterra equations and the replicator dynamics from evolutionary game theory. However, this equivalence has not been exploited by empiricists so far, as it requires to translate from an ecological interaction of two species to an evolutionary game between three types. Only when we focus on a special case with identical growth rates, it is possible to translate without this trick, leading to a more direct equivalence between the frameworks. Consequently, one has to be particularly careful how to classify interactions and how to assess dynamical outcomes. For example, a Prisoner’s Dilemma interaction where the `cooperators’ have a higher intrinsic growth rate than `defectors’ can result in stable coexistence of the two types and may ultimately not represent a social dilemma anymore.

Host: Wenying Shou