Network growth approach to macroevolution

Abstract

We propose a novel network growth model coupled with the competition interaction to simulate macroevolution. Our work shows that competition plays an important role in macroevolution and it is more rational to describe the interaction between species by network structures. Our model presents a complete picture of the development of phyla and the splitting process. It is found that periodic mass extinction occurred in our networks without any extraterrestrial factors and the lifetime distribution of species is very close to the fossil record. We also perturb networks with two scenarios of mass extinctions on different hierarchic levels in order to study their recovery. © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.