Chaitanya Gokhale

January 12, 2022

Please refer to https://tecoevo.github.io/positions/ and contact Chaitanya <gokhale@evolbio.mpg.de> for further information on the project.
 

Co-evolutionary dynamics in the light of extended evolutionary synthesis

Theories of predator-prey, host-parasite dynamics are a part of classical ecology. Together with evolution, we can address Red-Queen like scenarios with ever-evolving antagonists. The extended evolutionary synthesis includes phenomena such as innovation and learning. Personality effects of individual antagonists are often averaged out. 

The project aims to incorporate extended evolutionary synthesis properties in the traditional co-evolution models. The project involves theory development from an ecological and evolutionary point of view with implementations from techniques from machine learning.

The theory will be developed together with an experimental collaborator working on the individual variation in the predatory behaviour of spiders. Primarily developed as a theory project, the ideal candidate is expected to be highly enthusiastic, working at the interface of theory development, machine learning and artificial intelligence and interacting with experimentalists. Knowledge about the theory of dynamical systems, stochastic processes, learning algorithms and scientific computing would be desirable. Familiarity with evolutionary and ecological models of co-evolution and mathematical biology would be an advantage, but if not, then a keen interest in the same is a requirement.

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