Question

1. Why do scientists consider what occurs in Avida and Avida-ED an instance of evolution and not merely a simulation of evolution?

2. Explain how an Avidian genome is similar to a bacterial genome. And how Avidian genetics is different from biological genetics. Base your responses on the provided course materials, your prior biology knowledge, and/or non-course materials.

3. In Avida-ED organisms can be described as being either “viable” or “inviable.” Use your understanding of evolution and phylogenetics to explain what viability means in Avida-ED and why this is a suitable and/or useful term.

Answer 1

Avida-ED is the educational version of Avida.

It is a software platform developed by a group of computer scientists and software engineers .

It is used for  the experimental study of digital organisms in order to better understand how biological evolution works.

In the experimental study, the digital organisms are subject to the same processes as biological organisms, such as reproduction, mutation, and natural selection.

Using Avida-ED, we will be able to design and perform our own experiments to test hypotheses about evolution in much the same way that researchers use Avida.