Evolution Simulation Links and Programs

IMPORTANT NOTE: The following simulations only include the program. For instructions and activities click

If you wish, you can Download and Install   stand-alone versions of the ecology and evolution models. These versions will run without a connection to the interne and provide additional functionality. Click on the desired model, tell it to run from it's current location, and just follow the setup directions. For more detailed install procedures, click here. Permission is granted to other instructors to use these programs in their classrooms. All I ask is that you e-mail me telling me how the programs are being used. Suggestions are welcome.

VISTA USERS READ THIS TO RUN THE PROGRAMS

1. Insect Orders widget.
2. Go to the Moth Simulation.
3. Climate Space Simulation
4. Species Diversity Calculator
5. Dendogram calculations. Here's the BIG dendogram version for the primate skull lab!
6. Climate Space Model
7. Game Theory Model.
8. More models are HERE

Excel Models

Mathcad Information and Simulations (Tietjen) NOTE: I have not tried this under Vista. If you run into problems, try THIS FIX (I have not tested the fix).

• Mathcad Explorer is a viewer for *.MCD files (crippled. Will not save files) NOTE: When opening a file you need to set it for MCD files (the default is handbook).

  • A tutorial on Mathcad can be found here (off-site or on-site if first link is broken).

  • If you just want to find out about the editing functions (which is all you need for the models) do this:

    1. Open Mathcad Explorer

    2. Click on "To start, click here now"

    3. Getting Started with Mathcad

    4. Entering Text

    5. And, at the bottom of that page, "edit math expressions"

    6. You just need to be able to position the cursor to change the variables in the yellow portions of the equations.

• NOTE: Collapsed models hide most of the text and formulae so that only the information that is necessary to run the simulation is shown. It both cleans up the screen and makes it easier to run the larger simulations without lots of paging up and down. Run the regular version first. Once you understand the model, run the collapsed version to experiment.

• A tutorial on Mathcad can be found here (off-site or on-site if first link is broken).

• Population Models 1

• Continuous Generation Population Growth

• Discrete Generation Growth Model NOTE: To watch the movie you need to download this and put it in the same directory as the model.

• Compete (two and three species models) Oddly, this may not work with the non-crippled commercial versions of Mathcad, but it works fine with Mathcad Explorer

• Measuring Species Diversity

• Game Theory

• Hardy-Weinberg

• Genetic Drift

• Effective Population Size

• Inbreeding

• Infection Model

• Selection Model and a Collapsed Selection Model

• Spread of Disease

• Mutation and Fixation of an Allele

• Genetic Drift in Bacteria (There's a collapsed model HERE without the text for easier experimentation)

• Haploid Selection

• All programs (ZIP file)

Simulations by other authors that I've collected

• Hardy-Weinberg: A different Approach
• 1 Parameter models of nucleotide change
• Biological Optimization
• Ant Model
• Thermoregulation costs in humans
• Rabbit growth model
• Game of Life

Other Mathcad links

• Lots of Mathcad Models in Biology

Off-site models

1. EvolGenius
   • Nature Population and Quantitative Genetics
   • Overview of EvolGenius- How it Works
   • EvolGenius Download (DOS- based). On-site
2. Populus (Ecology and Evolution Models)
3. Biomorphs. Visit the Richard Dawkins web page for more information on this concept (see The Blind Watchmaker) Also see here
4. Population Biology Simulations
5. Cellular Automata  (NOTE: These require JAVA. Get the update if they don't run)
   • Majority (Look at this as a model of a single species dispersal)
   • Predator-Prey Model (Modify the operators suggested at the top. Use right-click for the buttons)
   • Block Extinctions (Play with block size to determine how birth rate influences rate of extinction)
6. Evolution and Game Theory Simulations (Very Good Text Material Too- COMPREHENSIVE!)
7. Evobeaker Models
   • Genetic Drift- Download
     • Program (Just download it to your desktop and click on it (no installation)
     • Directions
     • Worksheet
     • Supplement to the directions
   • Bugsville Estimating Heritability
     • Bugsville program
     • Directions and lab exercise
     • Worksheet for lab
8. Stella Models
9. USGS Vermont Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit Spreadsheet Project (On-site with edited directions)
10. Main Site for the Following Simulations
    • NOTE: If the models don't work, download and install the Java Runtime Environment here.
      1. Page Down Until you find J2SE(TM) Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 11 (The version and Update may be different).
      2. Accept the license agreement
      3. Choose Windows Offline Installation, Multi-language
      4. Save it to your desktop (or some other convenient place)
      5. Install it.
    • Genetic Drift
    • Natural Selection
    • Mean Fitness
    • Selection With Drift
    • Drift and Mutation
    • Drift and Migration