Holey Fitness Landscapes and the Maintenance of Evolutionary Diversity

Analytical models show that high-dimensional fitness landscapes form “holey” rather than “rugged” topographies, but the implications of this finding for biological and artificial life systems remain largely unexplored. One of the reasons for this gap can be attributed to serious difficulties in the implementation of individual-based holey fitness landscape (HFL) models. Here, we introduce a method for simulating HFLs in spatially explicit individual-based models that overcomes these difficulties. We examine how the HFL changes predictions for the maintenance of genetic diversity in the face of migration. Previous models suggest that ecologically-based reproductive isolation will rapidly collapse under migration. Our results indicate that an underlying HFL can often maintain diversity in this situation. Hybrid species emerge frequently when HFL genetics are simulated, but are usually doomed to extinction because of small population sizes. However, hybridisation can also lead to novel adaptations and potentially the exploitation of new ecological niches. More generally, the results imply that HFL genetics should not be neglected in studies of adaptation and diversity.