Realistic modeling of forest ecosystems

Abstract

In this paper, we present a new framework for realistic modeling of forest ecosystems, which involves intraspecific and interspecific competition among the species. Interspecific competition is highly dependent on ecological features. Even living in same condition each species grows differently because they have their own ecological features and react differently. We consider not only the soil condition but also the main factors that affect to individual growth such as light condition and altitude. We also consider the ecological features of each species such as relative growth rate, soil nutrition preference, shade-tolerance, altitude range and allelopathy effect to express both intraspecific and interspecific competition. The discrete simulation methods proposed in this work help to simulate realistic forest ecosystems for computer graphics.