What is this?
This is an automatic simulation of a simple fungal lifecycle. (Specifically, of a species of fungus in the phylum Basidiomycota.) It germinates and grows out from starting spores in a spreading network called a mycelium. When environmental conditions are right, it will mate with compatible fungi and form a fruiting body- a mushroom! This mushroom forms spores, which spread (by wind, rain, or animals) to become the next generation of mycelium. (Islam, 2017)
What is this?
This is an interactive simulation of competition in the habitat of a soil fungus. Bacteria, nematodes, and fungi all compete for soil nutrients in different ways.
This is a very simplified model, but fungi really do "seek out" nutrients like you do when you draw a hyphal line to a nutrient circle. Chemical sensing allows the mycelium to grow towards dense areas of nutrients (This is called Chemotaxis). Real fungi will quickly grow towards close nutrients, and gradually grow towards far-away nutrients - almost like a human forager. (Fukasawa, 2023)