Evolutionary dynamics of population states

Evolving populations are usually regarded as aggregates of points (individuals) moving through adaptive landscapes. Considering evolution as a movement of a single point (which represents the whole population) in an appropriate space of population states is much less intuitive. Yet, the effort seems worth taking, as it offers some immediate and not quite trivial insights into basic dynamics of evolutionary adaptation. Our contribution deals with some aspects of such approach applied to the case of phenotypic evolution. Typical trajectories of adaptation are presented and commented upon. Special attention is given to the effect of collapse of the initially diversified populations.