A model of population dynamics

A model describing the evolution of a sexual population in a selective environment is presented. The population is composed of individuals each characterized by its phenotype and age. Within the standard Monte Carlo simulation technique, we calculate the time dependence of the average fitness, average adaptation to the environment and the distribution of the phenotypes. We show that the former quantities exhibit damped oscillations, meaning that in the absence of mutations the population is driven by the selection to a homogeneous one. The distribution of the phenotypes, as well as the adaptation is Gaussian at each time step of the process. The role of the maximum age and length of the genetic strings on the dynamics of the population is also discussed.