Figure 7. Evolvability vs. distance from the initial niche for the abstract model with limited-capacity niches.

The average evolvability of organisms in the final population is shown as a function of distance from the initial starting niche averaged over 50 independent simulations. The main result is that there is a significant correlation between increasing distance from the initial niche and increasing evolvability. The plotted line indicates the line of best fit by linear regression.