Evolution to alternative levels of stable diversity leaves areas of niche space unexplored
Fig 9
Finite population reduces realized diversity.
The final number of phenotypic clusters for the individual based model when seeded with different initial population sizes. Individuals were clustered into groups by phenotypic similarity. To control for stochasticity, the final number of clusters was calculated as the median number of clusters over the last 200 time steps. Color indicates the maximum of the carrying capacity kernel (set at the origin). This represents the “richness” of the environment, with larger values modeling an environment with resources that are able to support a larger population. Simulations were run with a quartic carrying capacity kernel and all other parameters remained the same as previous simulations.