Diversity of semelparous populations in a penna model with continuous and periodic mutations
Abstract
The Penna-bit string approach is used as a framework for the genetic diversity investigations of continuous and periodic mutation implementations. We quantify genetic diversity with time in Penna model populations using Shannon diversity index as a measure. The absence of deaths due to mutation accumulation removes selection and results to all populations reaching the same genome. We find that periodic mutation in this case allows the population to reach homogeneity at a much larger time than continuous mutations. On the other hand, the presence of selection results to conservation of diversity. We also know that populations under periodic mutation with selection case tend to be more genetically diverse before reaching steady-state diversity than continuous mutation implementation.
