Natural Selection Fails to Optimize Mutation Rates for Long-Term Adaptation on Rugged Fitness Landscapes
Figure 4
Evolutionarily stable mutation rate does not depend on the frequency with which the mutation rate changes (Π).
The evolution of mutation rates in the explicit fitness landscape with a valley size of three is shown for several values of Π, as indicated by the colored key. Each curve shows the average of 20 runs; the adjacent bands represent±1 s.e.m. The value of Uopt was determined in previous experiments (see text). The rate of approach toward the evolutionarily stable mutation rate depends on Π, but the equilibrium value itself does not.