NETWORK COARSENING DYNAMICS IN A PLASMODIAL SLIME MOULD: MODELLING AND EXPERIMENTS
Authored by Werner Baumgarten, Jeff Jones, Marcus J B Hauser
Date Published: 2015
DOI: 10.5506/aphyspolb.46.1201
Sponsors:
European Union
Platforms:
No platforms listed
Model Documentation:
Other Narrative
Mathematical description
Model Code URLs:
Model code not found
Abstract
The giant unicellular slime mould Physarum polycephalum forms an
extended network of stands (veins) that provide for an effective
intracellular transportation system, which coarsens in time. The network
coarsening was investigated numerically using an agent-based model and
the results were compared to experimental observations. The coarsening
process of both numerical and experimental networks was characterised by
analyses of the kinetics of coarsening, of the distributions of
geometric network parameters (as, for instance, the lengths and widths
of vein segments) and of network topologies.
Tags
Evolution
Bio-inspired algorithm
Physarum-plasmodium
Transport networks
Polycephalum
Organism