3.6. Epochs

Defining Simulation Epochs in the Config File <epoch>

A simulation consists of one or more epochs, which are simulated sequentially, and which allow the population to experience consecutively different selection environments, or have different replication properties.

An epoch has a fixed duration (in number of generations), and inherits, unless overriden, the default fitness function and replication and mutation operators.

Example of an epoch:

<epoch>
    <name>Epoch with age dependent fitness function</name>
    <generations>1000</generations>

    <!-- override the default fitness function -->
    <fitnessFunction>
        <ageDependentFitness>
            <feature>DE protein</feature>
            <declineRate>0.005</declineRate>
        </ageDependentFitness>
    </fitnessFunction>
</epoch>

Specific properties of an epoch are:

• <name> : an epoch name (useful for tracking simulation progress)

• <generations> : the duration of the epoch in number of generations