A dynamical limit to evolutionary adaptation.

Natural selection makes evolutionary adaptation possible even if the overwhelming majority of new mutations are deleterious. However, in rapidly evolving populations where numerous linked mutations occur and segregate simultaneously, clonal interference and genetic hitchhiking can limit the efficiency of selection, allowing deleterious mutations to accumulate over time. This can in principle overwhelm the fitness increases provided by beneficial mutations, leading to an overall fitness decline.

A dynamical limit to evolutionary adaptation.

Natural selection makes evolutionary adaptation possible even if the overwhelming majority of new mutations are deleterious. However, in rapidly evolving populations where numerous linked mutations occur and segregate simultaneously, clonal interference and genetic hitchhiking can limit the efficiency of selection, allowing deleterious mutations to accumulate over time. This can in principle overwhelm the fitness increases provided by beneficial mutations, leading to an overall fitness decline.

Population genetics of polymorphism and divergence in rapidly evolving populations.

In rapidly evolving populations, numerous beneficial and deleterious mutations can arise and segregate within a population at the same time. In this regime, evolutionary dynamics cannot be analyzed using traditional population genetic approaches that assume that sites evolve independently. Instead, the dynamics of many loci must be analyzed simultaneously.