Evolutionary Games and Population Dynamics - Softcover

Hofbauer, Josef; Sigmund, Karl

Softcover

ISBN 10: 052162570X ISBN 13: 9780521625708

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1998

Synopsis

Every form of behavior is shaped by trial and error. Such stepwise adaptation can occur through individual learning or through natural selection, the basis of evolution. Since the work of Maynard Smith and others, it has been realized how game theory can model this process. Evolutionary game theory replaces the static solutions of classical game theory by a dynamical approach centered not on the concept of rational players but on the population dynamics of behavioral programs. In this book the authors investigate the nonlinear dynamics of the self-regulation of social and economic behavior, and of the closely related interactions among species in ecological communities. Replicator equations describe how successful strategies spread and thereby create new conditions that can alter the basis of their success, i.e., to enable us to understand the strategic and genetic foundations of the endless chronicle of invasions and extinctions that punctuate evolution. In short, evolutionary game theory describes when to escalate a conflict, how to elicit cooperation, why to expect a balance of the sexes, and how to understand natural selection in mathematical terms.

About this title

Book Description

Since the work of Maynard Smith and others, it has been realised how game theory can model natural selection. Evolutionary game theory replaces the concept of rational players with the population dynamics of behavioural programs and can be used to understand the strategic and genetic foundations of the endless chronicle of invasions and extinctions which punctuate evolution. In short, it describes when to escalate a conflict, how to elicit cooperation, why to expect a balance of the sexes, and how to understand natural selection in mathematical terms.

Review

"...something for anyone interested in game models in organismal biology." Nature

"The book under review is a very nice further development of its ten-year-old predecessor...by the authors. Not only has the title been modified, but also the contents have been thoroughly reworked and thus adapted to today's topics of interest in the field of biomathematics. The book is totally restructured and contains much new material, mainly in game theory, especially in its evolutionary and dynamical aspects...the book is written in the well-known authors' usual clear, elegant and motivating style." Mathematical Reviews

"For the biologist who is mathematically inclined or the mathematician interested in biology...this volume is rich in results and likely to provoke stimulating thought." The Quarterly Review of Biology

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 052162570X
• ISBN 13: 9780521625708
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352