A Visual Discrete Event-based Simulator for Protection of Plants against Herbivores Employed as Computational Optimization Game

Abstract

Plants come with sophisticated strategies to survive within a highly competing environment. In addition, they need to resist frequent attacks from a variety of herbivores acting alone, in small groups, or in swarms. Since the amount of energy a plant might invest in defense and reproduction is limited, a complex optimization problem emerges. In a shared habitat, plants fight herbivores by shape and camouflage, by the release of specific toxins, or by attracting predators of herbivores. Furthermore, plants alert their surrounding field by signaling substances in the event of an assault. Transported by air or through a network of roots, signaling substances reach neighbors to trigger their defense. The offsprings of a plant commonly grow within a certain distance to benefit from symbiotic protection. We introduce a grid-based visual simulation software for detailed configuration and subsequent processing of the behavior of the resulting system in time and space. In terms of solution to a computational optimization problem inspired by nature, settings with low energy need and long life able to cope with different patterns of attack can be figured out and analyzed. Applications include novel techniques for efficient construction and secure operation of sensor networks.