Modeling software evolution using biological evolution theories

Research on software evolution is very active, but evolutionary models and theories that properly explain why and how software systems evolve over time are still lacking. We propose to compare software ecosystems (collections of software projects with a given developer and user community) to biological ecosystems, and to adapt and apply ecological models and evolutionary theories from biology to them. This will give us better insight in how software projects evolve, and what the main factors are that drive the success or popularity of software projects in their environment. Expressed in biological terms, we wish to use knowledge on the evolution of biological ecosystems to provide support aiming to optimize the fitness, resistance and resilience of open source projects.