Spontaneous Branching in a Polyp Oriented Model of Stony Coral Growth

摘要

A three-dimensional model of diffusion limited coral growth is introduced. As opposed to previous models, in this model we take a "polyp oriented" approach. Here, coral morphogenesis is the result of the collective behaviour of the individual coral polyps. In the polyp oriented model, branching occurs spontaneously, as opposed to previous models in which an explicit rule was responsible for branching. We discuss the mechanism of branching in our model. Also, the effects of polyp spacing on the coral morphology are studied.