ECA, a Python tool to study the evolution of life

Abstract

We present a computer program called Evolutionary Cellular Automaton (ECA) in Python, which simulates in silico, in the simplest form found, all the known processes and mechanisms underlying natural selection. Mathematical and statistical functions condition the dynamics of real populations, through variables that in each habitat and in each organism acquire a specific parameter. In ECA, we have simplified these variables by working with mean and standard values and by simplifying the interactions between species in such a way that the mechanisms underlying natural selection also work in ECA, but in a digital environment under controlled and reproducible conditions.