ORCID

0009-0003-1262-5104

Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Complex Systems and Data Science

First Advisor

Josh J. Bongard

Abstract

Investigating the evolution of defensive weaponry in animals, such as armor plates,elongated teeth, and horns, alongside its effect on the population dynamics of the predator-prey ecosystem can provide insight into why some animals have or haven’t developed such ornaments. Preliminary research has delved into instances in which defensive weaponry have developed in various groups of animals, including mammals, reptiles, archosaurs, and fish, alongside hypothesis testing using computational models of coevolution between predator and prey species. However, whether introducing an evolution of defensive weaponry in an ecosystem would be beneficial or detrimental to the survival of its species is an open problem. In this dissertation, we tackle the question “in theory, would armor evolution in predators lower the average evolutionary time until extinction in different predator- prey ecosystems?”. Discrete-time discrete-space agent-based models are used to simulate 2 groups of ecosystems, those with and without predator armor evolution. The number of timesteps for the predator species to go extinct is measured and compared between the 2 groups. We found that armor evolution in predators is detrimental to lengthening its time until extinction with the exception of the instance in which the prey also exhibit armor evolution. The results additionally aligned with findings from the preliminary studies regarding the coevolutionary arms-race between predator and prey.

Language

en

Number of Pages

35 p.

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