I've done some futzing around with evolution in artificial life
systems. In the system I developed, population would keep increasing
until it exhausted it's food supply, plummet, and then start teeming
again once their food had a chance to grow back.
One thing that really struck me was how much these boom/bust cycles
resemble simulated annealing techniques for avoiding local maxima in hill
climbing searches. When there's lots of food around, everyone can have
children and all sorts of questionable variations can keep themselves
alive. Then though, when the food runs out, only the best 20 - 30% make it
through the 'ice age' and are around to try new adaptations in the next
boom.
-matt
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