Red Queen & Coevolution
Van Valen 1973 — Running to stay in place
Coevolution Model
Model:
Matching Alleles
Gene-for-Gene
Arms Race Quantitative
Host population size:
200
Mutation rate:
0.01
Selection strength:
0.20
Sexual reproduction:
Sexual (recombination)
Asexual (clonal)
Reset
Pause
Red Queen:
parasites always favor common host genotypes → rare alleles are selected → oscillation.
Sexual repro
creates novel genotype combos, helping hosts outrun parasites.
Red Queen Hypothesis for sex: maintenance of genetic diversity.