SHARP: Shade-avoidance Response in Plants An Evolutionary Simulation Software Package

摘要

Educational simulators take learning to the next level by bringing students' understanding of a subject closer to their personal experience. In this paper, software to simulate the evolution of shade-avoidance responses in plants is developed. Models and equations to imitate the response are described. An example simulated scenario is illustrated and discussed. This simulation demonstrates typical shade-avoidance response in plants; the competition for sunlight between plants grown in high density conditions channelizes more resources towards longer stems. Additionally, the simulations show how increased competition over plants grown in low density conditions lowers the variability in the overall shapes of the individual plants.