Evolutionary dynamics

Evolutionary dynamics is a branch of mathematical evolutionary biology that developed from research using differential equations to model both genetic and phenotypic change. Thus it differs from population genetics or quantitative genetics that focus on genetic change, and from population dynamics that describes change in population size over time, but does not include genetic change. The related field of evolutionary game theory was first applied to biology by Maynard Smith. George Price introduced an important connection between ecology and evolution by showing the importance of frequency-dependent selection, though a flexible link to population dynamic change was still lacking.

In the 1990s, researchers began to understand the benefits of linking ecological and genetic models using differential equations, resulting in evolutionary dynamics. Some researchers consider the field to be a part of adaptive dynamics or evolutionary invasion analysis. The common feature of this work is the use of differential equations to model evolutionary change in a manner that can take into account ecological concepts as well as phenotypic and genetic change.

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