Species Selection of Aging for the Sake of Diversity

In their paper, “Punctuated Equilibria: An Alternative to Phyletic Gradualism”, Eldredge and Gould (1972) argue that most evolution occurs during geologically rapid speciation events, with species exhibiting stasis the vast majority of the time. Gould (2002, 2007) demonstrates that an implication of Punctuated Equilibrium is that selectionist theory is expanded to the level of species defining species as basic units of macroevolution. In our paper, we demonstrate the evolution of aging rates in a species selection scenario. We have developed an ALife simulation environment with mating governed by evolving compatibility signatures, resulting in the formation of reproductively isolated subpopulations (i.e., species). Given a co-evolving parasite population, heterogeneity in a host subpopulation is beneficial for the health of that subpopulation. This can result in group selection pressure at the species level for the evolution of altruistic traits, such as a faster aging rate.