Jane Molofsky, "Cellular Automata Models in Community Ecology"

Molofsky asks whether plant popultaions follow simple rules. Only the first and 2nd neighbors inluenced plant growth, however at higher density there were other effects.

She showed how playing with the mathematics of the effects of density, when run for multiple generations, yeilds banding patterns which looked very similiar to examples from the natural world which she had given at the begninning of the talk.

Abstract. Her web site.