Individual-based simulation of the diffusion process of Eupatorium adenophorum

In order to investigate the diffusion patterns of Eupatorium adenophorum, this study uses a computer to simulate various plant diffusion processes under different environments. The study develops binary cellular automata as a framework reflecting the growth and semination of plants by the change of cellular state and transition function. This model allocates 16 integers, namely 1 to 16, to indicate a life history of plant starting from seed. In each iteration (a year), Monte-Carlo simulation is applied to decide whether an individual survives into the next year, the probability of which is estimated from previous literature. If a plant survives youth, mature or senile period, its propagation will also be considered and short-tailed dispersal kernel was employed. Applying this basic model, this study also simulates the diffusion process of E. adenophorum under four typical ecological environments. Examining the age structure of the four populations, we found that, although with significantly different numbers of plants left, most individuals were in the infancy period. Besides, their dispersal velocity showed different periodic law. These observations provided reasonable suggestions on what control strategies to be taken respectively.