Effects of Extreme Environmental Changes on Population Dynamics

The effects of periodic environmental fluctuations on the adaptive behavior and on the survival chance of a population of individuals are investigated as a function of both the genotypes carried, i.e., haploid or diploid. Only extreme and exogenous changes have been taken into account in order not to complicate the model under investigation. Moreover, different rates of both environmental changes and mutation have been considered. The analysis has been performed by discussing the evolutionary dynamics exhibited by the population in terms of adaptation, density and, finally, survival probability.