  We present an individual based model of evolutionary ecology.
  The reproduction rate of individuals characterized by their genome depends on
the composition of the population in genotype space. Ecological features such
as the taxonomy and the macro-evolutionary mode of the dynamics are emergent
properties.
  The macro-dynamics exhibit intermittent two mode switching with a gradually
decreasing extinction rate. The generated ecologies become gradually better
adapted as well as more complex in a collective sense.
  The form of the species abundance curve compares well with observed
functional forms. The models error threshold can be understood in terms of the
characteristics of the two dynamical modes of the system.
