On the constructive power of ecology in open-ended evolving systems

"Ecology is a powerful force for unlocking the full potential of evolution. Ecological interactions create feedback loops that promote diversification, both in natural ecosystems and in more applied evolutionary computation frameworks. However, we currently lack a strong theoretical framework that predicts how a given ecological community will evolve. Such a framework would allow us to better understand and anticipate change in evolving systems and facilitate the harnessing of ecology as a tool for guiding evolution. In this work, I develop tools to begin the development of such theory in computational systems. Using these tools, I show that different mechanisms for creating ecology (e.g. spatial structure and varied competition schemes) produce radically different community structures and evolutionary outcomes. I explore the implications of these differences in the context of evolutionary computation and biology."--Page ii.