My honours thesis, "Using Lindenmayer Systems to Model the Growth of Filamentouw Micoorganisms", submitted in January 1994, assessed the potential of different types of L systems - DOL, stochastic 0L, parametric D0L, parametric stochastic, and parametric stochastic 1L systems - for modelling filamentous microorganisms. Deterministic systems gave regular geometric shapes, stochastic processes generated realistic images, and parametric systems were most useful because the could incorporate the growth kinetics of individual hyphae. Using L systems as a tool, this study also experimented with the formation of circular colonies and it was found that circular colonies where more likely to form if branching angles were close to 90 degrees at an early stage in colony development, or if hyphae were allowed to wander from a straight line path (even if branching angles remained constant). L system rules were also incorporated growth kinetics.
_
_
last updated November 1999 F.Soddell@latrobe.edu.au