Dear Colleagues,

Mathematical models are essential to our understanding of the natural world. The process by which we continue to learn and understand the mechanics driving natural phenomena often begins with verbal hypotheses explaining an observation, from which one extracts the essential components into a tractable mathematical theory. Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection is a case in point. However, just as natural populations evolve, so do our models of the natural world. In addition, advances in molecular techniques for obtaining whole-genome sequence data could revolutionize our ability to test hypotheses of evolution and ecology.

An example of model evolution concerns recruitment dynamics, and the mechanics shaping individual recruitment success, which are central to our understanding of evolution and ecology. The Wright–Fisher model of individual recruitment success (offspring number distribution) has been a cornerstone of mathematical population genetics for almost a century, but recent results in population genetics suggest that it is not universally applicable, and that models incorporating huge reproductive output, or sweepstakes reproduction, may be more applicable to highly fecund populations across domains of life.

'A model is just a model that may be a useful approximation to the behavior of a population. But it does not describe all the relevant things about a population.'

Even today there are misconceptions about the role of mathematics in biology. Rigorous analysis of the properties of a tractable model incorporating at least the most relevant characteristics of a particular system, and the model's predictions, can be a stronger test of a verbal hypothesis than any open-ended experiment or exploratory data analysis.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to publish theoretical advancements relevant for evolution and/or ecology, as well as critical assessments of current theory through genomic data analysis. Contributions aimed towards a wider audience are particularly welcome.

Dr. Bjarki Eldon
Guest Editor

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