Geometrical and Evolutionary effects in a Predator-Prey System

Abstract

The area of investigation is the dynamics of a predator-prey relationship. To model the relationship, an agent based model is used as a base for a simulation tool. The tool supports multiple trophic levels, and the agents implement behaviours such as grouping, focusing of a single prey, path finding, and inheritance of the parents properties and mutation to simulate evolution. The system is used to reproduce the emergence of group behaviour between agents of the same population, as well as to answer how properties of the environment affect the populations. Also, with the same rules for interaction, known physical phenomena such as the capillary effect and oil forming droplets in water is reproduced. From this it is concluded that the size of the environment has a direct impact on the dynamics of the populations. Grouping with agents of the same population is bene cial for both predators and prey. The reproduction of well known physical phenomena provides validation for the model and suggests that the tool could be used for further studies in many different scientific fields.