Selective press extinctions, but not random pulse extinctions, cause delayed ecological recovery in communities of digital organisms

A key issue concerning recovery from mass extinctions is how extinction and diversification mechanisms affect the recovery process. We evolved communities of digital organisms, subjecting them to instantaneous “pulse” extinctions, choosing survivors at random, or to prolonged “press” extinctions involving a period of low resource availability. Functional activity at low trophic levels recovered faster than at higher levels, with the most extensive delays seen at the top level. Postpress communities generally did not fully recover functional activity in the allotted time, which equaled that of their original diversification. We measured recovery of phenotypic diversity, observing considerable variation in outcomes. Communities subjected to pulse extinctions recovered functional activity and phenotypic diversity substantially faster than when subjected to press extinctions. Follow‐up experiments tested whether organisms with shorter generation times and low functional activity contributed...