GENETIC MANIPULATION AND THE POPULATION'S FATE

We present a dynamic model of a population under selection pressure and in a changing habitat. Two kinds of changes are considered: In the first climate changes in one direction only, like in coming of the glacial era; in the second, the changes are randomly fluctuating. We compare four evolutionary strategies: First: evolution without any external influence; second: evolution where ill-fitted individuals are eliminated; third: where the phenotypes of the progeny are improved to make them better fit to the existing conditions, and finally evolution where the last two procedures are applied together. We show that the systematic phenotype improvement is the most successful strategy in the long run and the elimination of the ill-fitted almost always leads to a disaster.