>anyone out there interested in taking a computer modelling approach
>to studying patterns of evolution?
Yes! This is all the rage now in the Artificial Life communities.
I'm working on a small project on the evolution of foraging
behaviour, trying to model the development of trace fossils
through time.
Please take a look at http://www.notam.uio.no/~oyvindha/virtual.html
for a description of this (aimed at paleontologists!)
Oyvind Hammer
University of Oslo
Depts. of Geology & Computer Science