Abstract
Genetic drift is a well known and important force in directing the evolution of a population. The nature of genetic drift in panmictic populations is well understood, and new research is shedding light on the behaviour of genetic drift. This paper explores the concept of using evolutionary algorithms to search for population structures that exhibit the minimum and maximum conditions for loss of variation via genetic drift. Two spatial structures repeatedly emerge as candidates: a star topology that reduces fixation time to a logarithm of population size, and a “line with islands” topology that can delay fixation via genetic drift to a greater extent than any previously known population structure.