These features are advantageous for broad trajectory search in the preliminary phase of mission designs.
A mathematical model [ 26] suggested that a zigzag trajectory is advantageous when encountering a close or fast predator, whereas a straight trajectory is advantageous in facing a distant and relatively slow predator.
Due to noise and errors in tracking that occur for numerous reasons [22], [23], it is advantageous to smooth the resulting trajectory.
This model has been derived in population genetic theory to describe the fixation trajectory of an advantageous mutation in a large haploid population [34].
In other words, when the fitness landscape is rugged, we wish to understand whether evolution will take the more "farsighted" path to reach distant advantageous genotypes, rather than a "greedy" trajectory that fixes immediately beneficial mutations regardless of whether these may lead to evolutionary dead ends.
In the final section, using variational calculus, we apply this invariance principle to ask whether specific enzyme trajectories may be optimally advantageous to the cell under different assumptions on the relative costs associated with producing large amounts of enzyme slowly, versus producing modest amounts of enzyme quickly.
We find that direct evolution of allometric change, i.e., the evolutionary adaptation of the speed of system states on transient trajectories in phase space, is advantageous for a cellular differentiation task.
Finally, the fact that both isometric and allometric growth patterns converge on a common (selectively advantageous) foot morphology implies that both developmental trajectories may be selectively beneficial, and suggests that in this instance, multiple developmental solutions exist to the same evolutionary challenge.
It is advantageous, however, to employ metrics based on the entire trajectory that an organism takes while exploring its environment.
Because large populations tend to fix the most advantageous mutations first and thereby follow a very limited set of adaptive trajectories, they have a tendency to become trapped on local fitness peaks.
