effects of two single mutations are overcompensated in a high-fitness double mutant. We
discuss how the interplay of finite population size N and sexual recombination at rate r
affects the escape times t esc to the double mutant. For small populations demographic
noise generates massive fluctuations in t esc. The mean escape time varies
nonmonotonically with r, and grows exponentially as ln t esc∼ N (rr*) 3/2 beyond a critical …