Co-evolutionary dynamics on a deformable landscape

In order to use co-evolutionary techniques successfully one needs to investigate the dynamics of co-evolution. Assuming an open-ended evolutionary process, it would be desirable to establish the necessary and sufficient conditions which lead to a kind of arms race where species continually adapt in response to one another. In this paper we present a model of competitive co-evolution which is intended to investigate these conditions. In our model, co-evolving species are modeled as points which are placed randomly on a uniform landscape which is deformed by the species. The impact a species induces on its surrounding is not immediate. Instead, the deformation follows the species after some latency period. Evolution is modeled as a simple hill climbing process of the species. We investigate different conditions and their impact on the evolutionary dynamics. Some lead to stasis, some lead to cyclic behavior and others lead to an arms race