Example Application: Budworm Infestation
Spruce budworm is a pest that defoliates and kills balsam and spruce trees
After the trees die, they are replaced by beech trees which do not support budworms
After the budworms are gone, the spruce and balsam eventually displace the beeches through competition for sunlight and soil, and the cycle can repeat
The CA is (2-dimensional, 3-state, 4-neighborhood DFA):
- A defoliated site becomes green the next season
- An infested site becomes defoliated the next season
- An infested site will next season infest those of its four nearest neighbors that are green
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Eradicating an infestation is equivalent mathematically to finding the smallest self-reproducing patterns in an established pattern