COMPETITION, SUCCESSION AND PATTERN IN FUNGAL COMMUNITIES - TOWARDS A CELLULAR AUTOMATION MODEL

This paper describes the first cellular automaton model of a multispecies fungal community and presents some of the results of this model. The model assumes that competition occurs between two pairs of species which break down litter in two stages of succession. The litter can be introduced into the arena either continuously or seasonally. The model predicts numerous observed features of fungal dynamics: the formation of ring structures; the displacement of one mycelium species by another in simple competitive situations and the coexistence of several species in a variable environment. The predicted response of species richness to resource level is dome-shaped. The model also predicts the formation of strikingly heterogeneous spatial patterns when the resource input is regular.