The Application of Cellular Automata to study Theoretically Annual Plant Population Dispersal

In this article,the method of cellular automata(CA)was applied to construct a theoretical model to study plant dispersal,and an annual plant(weed)dispersal in homogenous environment was simulated by using the model. Seed dispersal is a main way for annual plants to spread. Therefore the distance and distribution of dispersal of annual plant(weed)seeds are essential to construct neighborhood function. According to the data of some plant seed dispersal showed by Howard (1991)[1], the neighborhood function with 25 neighborhood cells and transition function were derived in this article.Accordingly,a controllable CA model was built.By simulating the CA model, some interesting things were discovered that in homogenous environment, the more plants (weeds) grow together, the greater control force is needed to restrict their dispersal;the plants(weeds)growing on the edge of their habitat are more easily controlled than those growing the central part of their habitat.The simulation results showed that the CA model can exhibit, in a graph, two well-known ecological phenomena: aggregation effect and edge effect.It is hoped that the CA method and the knowledge obtained in this article are helpful to make an optimal strategy of management plant(weed)population.