Virtual Plant Animations

Virtual plant animations produced by the Insect-Plant Interactions Program of the CTPM and our collaborators using the Virtual Laboratory software developed at the University of Calgary, Canada.

To see these, you will need a QuickTime capable movie plugin or viewer (available from Apple at http://quicktime.apple.com/sw/). There are animations of Cotton, Beans, Other herbs, Roots, Trees, Information flow, and Insects and Plants. Click on an icon to retrieve the animation and explanation page.

As well as running the animations from start to finish, you can put them into a repeating loop or click on the open box at the bottom and then use left and right arrow keys to step forwards and backwards frame by frame.

You are welcome to use these animations for non-commercial purposes, but please acknowledge their source and note that copyright is retained by the CRC for Tropical Pest Management, Brisbane, Australia, unless otherwise stated. If you find them useful, please let us know.

Cotton

Main stem phyllotactic angle varied through 360 degrees. (615k)

Development of a fruiting branch. (380k)

Development of a vegetative branch. (106k)

Cotton shoot system development. (550k)

Comparison of development by 'normal' and 'okra leaf' varieties. (800k)

Development of roots and shoots in `okra leaf' variety. (580k)

Schematic and realistic representations of shoot development. (450k)

Visualising the internal state of plant parts during development. (565k)

Changes in pesticide coverage during development. (557k)

Variation of light penetration with time of day and plant development. (404k)

Assessing light interception by canopies. (521k)

Bean

development of root and shoot (650k)

animation of bean field with weeds (675k)

The weeds are a modified version of Rose campion from the Algorithmic Beauty of Plants.

Other herbs

A model of an undamaged stylo plant. (1m)

Diseased and damaged stylo. (635k)

Early growth of sorghum. (550k)

Field of sorghum. (535k)

Visualisation of pesticide decay on sorghum. (250k)

Visualisation of maize growth. (890k)

Visualisation of rice growth. (975k)

Roots

Development of a root in soil (2D).

The root tip follows high concentrations of water; water diffuses in the soil and is absorbed by the root. R. Mech and P. Prusinkiewicz. (2.7m)

Development of roots in soil (3D). R. Mech and P. Prusinkiewicz. (1m)

Trees

Early development of red cedar (315k).

Competition of branches for light.

Higher branches cast shadows on lower ones, inhibiting their growth. R. Mech and P. Prusinkiewicz. (540k)

Information flow

These simulations illustrate how induced defenses protect a plant after damage at different locations. (110k)

Insects and plants

This simulation of a fictitious plant-insect system illustrates how timing of insect damage may have a large effect on plant development. (625k)

This simulation illustrates movement of insects between plants. (1.6m)

Last updated: Jim Hanan, 1 March 1999.