Mathematical Models of Evolution

Nick Barton and his group study diverse topics in evolutionary genetics, but focus on the evolution of populations that are distributed through space, and that experience natural selection on many genes. Understanding how species adapt, and how they split into new species, requires understanding of spatial subdivision, whilst interactions between genes are important in species formation, and in the response to selection. The recent flood of genomic data makes analysis of the interactions amongst large numbers of genes essential.

Contact
Nick Barton
Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria)
Am Campus 1
A – 3400 Klosterneuburg

Phone: +43 (0)2243 9000-3001
E-mail: nick.barton@remove-this.ist.ac.at

Barton Group website

Assistant
Christine Krebs

Phone: +43 (0)2243 9000-1071
E-mail: christine.krebs@remove-this.ist.ac.at

Team

Selected Projects

  • Spatially continuous populations
    Classical models assume that individuals reproduce and disperse independently, and so miss many features of real populations. Correlations between genes reveal their shared history, patterns may extend over very large spatial scales, and diversity is often lower than expected from the number of individuals. The Barton Group is working with Alison Etheridge (Oxford) on a model of long-range extinction and recolonisation that includes these features.
  • Evolution of sex and recombination
    Why do almost all eukaryotes reproduce sexually? The most plausible explanation is that recombination helps to bring together favorable gene combinations, thus accelerating adaptation. The challenge is to find how recombination is favoured, given that selection acts on a very large number of genes. We are analyzing a variety of stochastic models of selection on multiple recombining loci.
  • Limits to selection
    How can the development of extraordinarily complex morphologies and behaviors be guided by a functional genome of ~108 bases – much less information than is held in a personal computer? This issue is relevant not only to natural selection, but also to evolutionary computation, in which selection is used to evolve better algorithms. We are studying the relation between information, entropy, and fitness.
  • Statistical mechanics and the evolution of quantitative traits
    We have formalized an analogy between statistical mechanics and population genetics; the results are applied to study the evolution of quantitative traits, allowing for arbitrary interaction effects.

We also study several other topics in evolutionary genetics, including the genetics of hybrid zones, limits to a species’ range, models of sympatric speciation, and methods for inferring population structure.

Selected Publications

  • Barton, N.H., J. Kelleher, A.M. Etheridge. (2010) A new model for extinction and recolonization in two dimensions: quantifying phylogeography. Evolution 64: 2701-2715.
  • Barton, N.H. (2010) Genetic linkage and  natural selection. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. (London) B 365:2559-2569.
  • Rosas, U., Barton, N.H., Copsey, L., de Reuille, P., Coen, E. (2010)  Cryptic variation between species and the basis of hybrid performance. PLoS Biology 8: e1000429.
  • Barton, N.H. (2010) The role of natural selection in speciation. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. (London) B 365: 1825-1840.
  • Barton, N.H. (2010) Mutation and the evolution of recombination. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. (London) B 365: 1281-1294.
  • Polechová, J., N. H. Barton, and G. Marion. (2009) Species' range: adaptation in space and time. American Naturalist 174: E186–E204.
  • Barton, N.H. (2009)  Why sex and recombination? Cold Spring Harbor Symposia Quant. Biol. 74.
  • Barton, N. H., A. M. Etheridge, and A. Véber (2009) A new model for evolution in a spatial continuum. Electronic Journal of Probability. arXiv:0904.0210.
  • Barton, N. H., and J. B. Coe (2009) On the application of statistical physics to evolutionary biology. Journal of Theoretical Biology 259: 317-324.
  • Barton, N.H. and de Cara, M.A.R. 2009. The evolution of strong reproductive isolation. Evolution 63: 1171-1190.
  • Barton, N.H. and P. de Vladar, H. 2009.  Statistical mechanics and the evolution of polygenic traits. Genetics 181: 997-1011.
  • Barton, N.H., Briggs, D.E.G., Eisen, J.A., Goldstein, D.B., Patel, N.H. (2007) Evolution. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. 
  • Gardner, A., West, S. and Barton, N.H. (2007) The relation between multilocus population genetics and social evolution theory. American Naturalist 169:207-226.


Career

  • 2008 Professor, IST Austria
  • 1990 Fellow/Chair, University of Edinburgh, UK
  • 1982–1990 Lecturer/Reader, University College London, UK
  • 1980–1982 Demonstrator, Cambridge University, UK
  • 1979 PhD, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

Selected Distictions

  • ISI Highly Cited Researcher
  • 2009 Linnean Society Darwin-Wallace Medal
  • 2006 Royal Society Darwin Medal
  • 2001 President, Society for the Study of Evolution (on Council 2000–2002)
  • 1998 American Society of Naturalists President's Award
  • 1995 Fellow, Royal Society of Edinburgh
  • 1994 Fellow, Royal Society of London
  • 1994 David Starr Jordan Prize

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