Hide introduction Introduction Peacock tails are well known for their elaborate coloration. Charles Darwin suggested that they serve to attract females, and that the showy features of the male peacocks have evolved by sexual selection. The idea is that if peahens prefer to mate with the most colorful males, the genes for showy tails will […]
Peacock Simulation Read More »
Hide introduction Introduction This page contains a JavaScript that simulates the development of pesticide resistance in an insect. When an insect population gets repeatedly sprayed with a pesticide, the population develops pesticide resistance. I made a simulation model for this. Below you will find the script and you can play around with different settings. But
Pesticide Resistance Simulation Read More »
Hide introduction Introduction This page contains a JavaScript that simulates Peppered moth evolution. The Peppered moth (Biston betularia) is known for having a darker appearance in areas with industrial pollution where tree bark is darker because of soot. In a cleaner environment, with lighter colored tree bark, the moths have a lighter appearance. Bird predation
Peppered Moth Simulation Read More »
Hide introduction Introduction This page contains a JavaScript, which is similar to the Wiki Weasel Script (Dawkins’ weasel), but the selection of sentences is done differently. In the Wiki Weasel Script the sentences get a score which depends on the number of correct characters in the right place. In My Weasel Script, the sentences get
Hide introduction Introduction This page contains a JavaScript, which is similar to the ‘My Weasel Script’, but the sentences are used as a genetic code for colors. One of the criticisms of the Dawkins’ weasel was that the program generates dysfunctional intermediate sentences (gibberish). Well, if you don’t speak English, even the Weasel sentence of
My Color Weasel Script Read More »
This page is an introduction to several scripts I wrote to simulate evolution. Richard Dawkins (author of ‘The Selfish Gene’) has in several of his books used computer programs to illustrate how natural selection works. In ‘The Blind Watchmaker’ he describes a computer algorithm that demonstrates the power of ‘selection’. This ‘Weasel Program’ (Dawkins’ weasel)
Simulating Evolution Read More »
Hide introduction Introduction This page contains a JavaScript with an algorithm of Dawkins’ weasel as suggested on the Wikipedia page: Weasel program. According to that page, a “Weasel” style algorithm could run as follows. Start with a random string of 28 characters. Make 100 copies of the string (reproduce). For each character in each of
Wiki Weasel Script Read More »
Because of my interest in evolution and genetics, I have written a couple of scripts with simulations. This page is an overview all my ‘evolution’ pages. Simulating Evolution This page explains the background of the various ‘evolution scripts’. Read it before trying the different pages with the actual simulation scripts. Wiki Weasel Script This
This page contains a computer simulation model for insect population studies. In the form below you can enter sets of data that are used in the simulation. Initially the form will show default values, which can be replaced by your own values. For most parameters you can enter a low and a high value (see
Natural Enemies Simulation Read More »
