The Avida Petri Dish

The Avida world is analogous to a Petri dish. An Ancestor organism is placed in the dish and replicates, mutating occasionally. In Avida 1.3.0 and 2.0, the Ancestor organism is specified in the genesis file. In Avida-ED the Ancestor is dragged and dropped into the Petri dish.

The color code indicates relative fitness. The scale shifts as the overall fitness level increases as Avida critters evolve to become more efficient replicators and as they acquire adaptations that earn additional replication resources.

Animation copyright by Robert T. Pennock, used by permission
http://www.msu.edu/~psennock5/research/Avida-ED.html