Ecosystem With Predator, Prey, And Grass

Submitted by librarian on Sat, 2006-01-21 00:22. :: 9-12 | Biology

For use with the Adventures in Modeling book, by Vanessa Colella, Eric Klopfer, and Mitchel Resnick published by Teachers College Press, 2001.

For more information, see

Challenge 10: Predator, Prey, Grass

This project models an ecosystem consisting of growing grass, grasshoppers that eat the grass, and predators that eat the grasshoppers. The grasshoppers and predators are implemented as breeds of turtles, while the grass is implemented as patches. If grass is present on a patch (with its density indicated by shades of green) it grows according to the rate specified in the solar-gain slider. Patches that have no grass at all are considered desertified and are shown in yellow. The only way grass can grow in the desertified areas is if it spreads to these patches through diffusion (one algorithm for modeling the re-seeding of the desert patches).

The initial number of grasshoppers is controlled with the "ghs-num" slider. Each grasshopper is created with an energy level. The grasshoppers move randomly around, using up a small amount of energy for each step. If a grasshopper lands on a green patch, it consumes the grass at a rate determined by the "ghs-eat-rate" slider. This rate determines both the amount of grass that the grasshopper eats and the amount of energy the grasshopper gains. If a grasshopper is over age 2 and has accumulated enough energy (as determined by the "ghs-birth-thresh" slider), then it will hatch a new grasshopper. If a grasshopper reaches the age shown on the "ghs-max-age" slider or runs out of energy, then it will die.

The "pred-num" slider sets the initial number of predators. These predators also have an energy level that decreases slightly as they move randomly around. If a predator encounters a grasshopper, then it will eat it and gain the amount of energy indicated on the "pred-life-gain" slider. Once a predator accumulates enough energy (as shown on the "pred-birth-thresh" slider), it will hatch a new predator. A predator dies when it runs out of energy or reaches the age shown on the "pred-max-age" slider.

Try running the model with the default parameters. What happens to the populations over time? Can you control the degree of population fluctuation? How? What seems to determine the degree of fluctuation? Try freezing all but one of the parameters and experimenting with different values for the remaining parameter. What happens to the populations of the three species as you change the parameter?

-certified-

Turtle procedures



	
breeds [ghs preds] ;There are two breeds of turtles, the grasshoppers (ghs) and the predators (preds)
turtles-own [lifeforce cons-amt thecount age death] ;Each turtle has a variable setting its
						    ;energy (lifeforce), grass consumption rate (cons-amt),
						    ;age, and whether it should die.

;Grasshoppers wander around and eat grass, which changes the grass density,
;which in turn increase their own lifeforce. If they have enough energy, they reproduce.
to ghs-life
  setcons-amt (min density (ghs-eat-rate * random 5))
  setdensity (max 0 (density - cons-amt))
  seth random 360
  jump 1
  setlifeforce max 0 (lifeforce + cons-amt - 10)
  setlifeforce min lifeforce 100
  if (lifeforce > ghs-birth-thresh) and (age > 2)
      [setlifeforce min 0 (lifeforce - 5)
      hatch [setlifeforce 10 setage 0 setthecount 0]]
      ghs-reaper
end

;If grasshoppers lifeforce drops below 1, their "death" variable is set to 1 by being eaten by a predator,
;or grasshoppers grow older than the maximum age, they die.
to ghs-reaper
	if death = 1 [die]
	ifelse lifeforce < 1
	[
		setthecount (thecount + 1)
		if thecount > 3 [die]
	]
	[setthecount 0]
	if age > ghs-max-age [die]
end

;Predators check if there are any grasshoppers present at their current patch, and if so they eat them.
;This increases their lifeforce, and if it is high enough they reproduce. The predator then moves and
;dies if it meets the death conditions.
to pred-life
  if breed = preds
   [if (count-ghs-here > 0)
       [setdeath-of one-of-ghs-here 1
        setlifeforce lifeforce + pred-life-gain]
    setlifeforce (lifeforce - (random 20) / 10)
    setlifeforce min lifeforce 150
    pred-reaper
    if (lifeforce > pred-birth-thresh) and (age > 5)
       [setlifeforce max (lifeforce - 20) 0
       hatch [setlifeforce 20 setage 0]]
   pred-move]
end

;Predators die when their age exceeds the maximum age defined by the "pred-max-age" variable
;or if their lifefoce drops below .1
to pred-reaper
  if age > pred-max-age [die]
  ifelse lifeforce < .1
      [setthecount thecount + 1
       if thecount > 3 [die]]
      [setthecount 0]
end

;Predators move by simply picking a random direction and if grasshoppers are present at their current patch, they
;move forward only slightly (.1) whereas if no grasshoppers are present they move forward between 0 and 20 patches.
to pred-move
  seth random 360
  ifelse count-ghs-here > 0
    [fd .1]
    [fd random 20]
end

Observer procedures




globals [systime] ;Creates a global variable "systime" that is increased after every step, counting
		  ;the number of steps the model had taken.
patches-own [density] ;Gives each patch a "density" variable that stores the amount of grass that
		      ;patch has.

to startup
  plotid 4
end

;This procedure sets up the environment by creating the graph, clearng the screen,
;and creating varying grass density amoung the patches. This is accomplished by creating twenty turtles,
;giving them random positions and the same color, and having them move randomly, stamping patches they
;land on. The turtle are then removed, and each patch that was stamped by a turtle is given a density
;between 100 and 150. They then each diffuse this density value to nearby patches. Once the grass has
;been set up, the procedures to setup the grasshoppers and predators.
to setup-fast
  plotid 4
  clearplot
  setplot-title ""
  ca
  crt 1
  repeat 20
    [ask-turtles
      [setxy (random screen-height) (random screen-width)
       setc 60
       repeat (solar-gain * 4) [stamp color seth random 360 fd 1]]]
  ask-turtles [die]
  ask-patches [if pc = 60 [setdensity ((random 50) + 100)]]
  repeat 55 [diffuse density .9]
  cgc
  plot-setup
  intro-grasshoppers
  intro-preds
end

;This alternate setup procedure, like the setup-fast procedure, first clears the screen and sets up the
;graph. Then, to set up the grass, it randomly selects one tenth of the patches and sets their density
;to 100. This is then diffuesd to nearby patches, and the agents are set up.
to setup-slow
  plotid 4
  clearplot
  setplot-title ""
  setsystime 0
  ca
  ask-patches [if (random 10) < 1 [setdensity 100]]
  repeat 10 [grow-grass
             diffuse density .3
             cgc]
  plot-setup
  intro-grasshoppers
  intro-preds
end

;This procedure is called by the "go" button. It tells the grass to grow by increasing its density,
;diffuses this new density, scales the grass color based on its density, and runs the generation
;procedure (which steps the whole model forwards).
to go
  grow-grass
  diffuse density .05
  cgc
  generation
  ask-ghs [ghs-life]
  cgc
  ask-preds [pred-life]
end

;This procedure tells the grass to grow by having each patch with any grass density to increase its
;density by setting it to whichever number is smaller: 99 or its current density plus one tenth the
;"solar-gain" variable. The cgc procedure is then called, having the patches scale their color.
to grow-grass
  ask-patches
    [if (density > .1)
      [setdensity min 99 (density + (solar-gain / 10))]]
  cgc
end

;This procedure scales the patch colors based on their density. The darker the patch, the higher its
;density.
to cgc
  ask-patches
    [ifelse density > 0
      [scale-pc green density 100 0]
      [setpc 48]]
end

;This procedure sets up the grasshoppers. It creates the number of grasshoppers defined by the
;ghs-num slider, puts them at random positions, give them random "lifeforce" between 0-100, and
;gives them a random age between 0-50.
to intro-grasshoppers
  create-ghs ghs-num
  ask-ghs
    [setxy (random screen-height) (random screen-width)
    setc red
    setlifeforce random 100
    setage random 50]
end

;This procedure sets up the predators. It creates the number of predators defined by the
;pred-num slider, puts them at random positions, give them random "lifeforce" between 0-100, and
;gives them a random age between 0-50.
to intro-preds
  create-preds pred-num
  ask-preds
    [setxy (random screen-height) (random screen-width)
    setc 30
    setlifeforce random 100
    setage random 50]
end

;A time-step procedure that increments the life of predators and prey as well as stepping the
;time for the entire model forward.
to generation
  ask-ghs [ghs-life]
  cgc
  ask-preds [pred-life]
  ask-turtles [setage age + 1]
  setsystime systime + 1
end

to plot-setup
  pp1 ppreset setppc red
  pp2 ppreset setppc green
  pp3 ppreset setppc 1
  setplot-xrange 0 25
  setplot-yrange 0 500
  setplot-title "Amount vs. Time"
end

to graph-it
  every 1.8 [      ;only graph every 1.8 seconds
                   ;this causes the graph to be smoother (the averaging makes it somewhat discrete)
  pp1 ppd plot count-ghs
  ;pp2 ppd plot sum-of-patches [density / 200] ;a slower way of graphing approximately the same thing
  ;we're graphing a scaled distribution of the patch colors
  pp2 ppd plot (5 * (count-pc green) + 4 * (count-pc (green - 1)) + 4 * (count-pc (green + 1))
      + 3 * (count-pc (green - 2)) + 3 * (count-pc (green + 2)) + 2 * (count-pc (green - 3))
      + 2 * (count-pc (green + 3)) +  1 * (count-pc (green - 4)) + (1 * count-pc (green + 4))
      + 0 * (count-pc (green - 5)) + 0 * (count-pc (green + 5))) / 10
  pp3 ppd plot count-preds]
end

to start
  startgobutton
  startgraphbutton
end

to empty
end

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Ecosystem With Predator, Prey, And Grass

Turtle procedures

Observer procedures