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Barnacle Settlement — Density-Field Model

2D reaction-diffusion model of barnacle cyprid settlement: a searching-larvae density field diffuses faster where the biofilm/gregariousness cue is low and slower where it is high (the population-level limit of area-restricted klinokinesis), and converts into settled density via a real Hill-function settlement rate.

Ecology & Conservation Biology2DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version

Instead of tracking each cyprid larva individually, this variant simulates the whole searching cohort as a continuous density field diffusing over the settlement surface, with a cue-dependent diffusion coefficient derived from the same klinokinesis kinematics (slow, twisty walking in cue-rich patches becomes a locally suppressed diffusion coefficient), and the same Hill-function dose-response rate converting searching density into settled density. It is the mean-field counterpart of the agent-based 3D model — same equations, a genuinely different 2D-native numerical representation: a coupled reaction-diffusion PDE solved on a grid rather than discrete random walkers.

⚙ Under the hood

A 2D reaction-diffusion counterpart of the cyprid settlement model: instead of individual walking larvae, a searching-density field diffuses across the settlement surface with a cue-dependent diffusion coefficient derived from the same klinokinesis kinematics, and converts into a settled-density field via the identical Hill-function dose-response rate.

barnaclereaction-diffusiondensity fieldklinokinesisgregariousnessmarine ecology

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install