Optimal nesting of species for exact cover of resources: two against many

The application of resource-defined fitness sharing (RFS) to shape nesting problems reveals a remarkable ability to discover tilings [7, 8]. These tilings represent exact covers for a set of resources, and can be considered a maximally sized set of cooperating (non-competing) species. A recent paper by Horn [9] introduces the first formal analysis of this empirical phenomenon by examining a minimal case: two species a and b “cooperate” to exactly cover the resources, while a third species c “competes” with a and b by overlapping both in terms of covered resources. The analysis reveals that in cases in which a and b maximally compete with c for resources, species c will become extinct, while the optimal set of species, a and b, will survive. The current paper generalizes this three-species result by analyzing more complex situations with four or more species. Specifically, we consider two species cooperating against two species competing, and finally two species cooperatin...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: GECCO
• Authors: Jeffrey Horn
• Keywords: Competing Species, Exact Cover, GECCO 2007, first Formal Analysis