Manzano High School (81)

The Manzano High School team (#81) is from ABQ. This year they've submitted a project titled Stayin' Alive.

Team Members:

 * Brendyn Toersbijns
 * Spenser Gomez-Nelson

Sponsoring Teacher:

 * Stephen Schum

Proposal
http://mode.lanl.k12.nm.us/get_proposal1112.php?team_id=81

Our project plans to model one or two plant species and how they adapt/evolve to a specific change in climate. We plan on isolating three specific variables in our model; precipitation, temperature, and elevation. All of these variables affect the amount of ground water greatly, that is why we were able to narrow it down to these three. This project is important to humans and the world because the plants that we chose will most likely be great contributors to the world oxygen supply and although humans can adapt to the changing climate we need to find out if plants can too, and if not we need to make plans. First, we plan on deciding which plant species would be best for our project. Then, we will do extensive research on this/these plant species to find out their location, their population, and other important information on these plants. Next, we plan on creating a model in Java and/or in StarLogo that accurately depicts this/these plants under varying degrees of climate change for different periods of time. Lastly, we hope to find a trend in which each plant or all plants follow.

Interim Report
http://mode.lanl.k12.nm.us/get_interim1112.php?team_id=81

Problem Definition
The future, although theoretical, poses a great question for people like us, Supercomputing Challenge contestants. Our project aims to set forth yet another opinion of plant evolution due to future water differences. We hope to model a few of the many possible scenarios in which plants are forced to evolve and adapt to their changing surroundings. Our project is centered around Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection and we hope to replicate this using a computer model in Java, but in case we don’t get the Java model working we will have a Net Logo 3D model.

Problem Solution
We hope to isolate specific characteristics of plants and model how these are affected when the plant moves up or down in elevation or the amount of water lessens or heightens. We hope to incorporate real life aspects of the wild like a river or rain. If everything goes as planned we hope to add one more reliable hypothesis of the future to the cauldron of ideas that are already stirring.

Progress to Date
Together my partner and I have researched different aspects of plants and have started on the Net Logo 3D model. I, Brendyn Toersbijns, have been learning Java in my free time.

Expected Results
We hope to get a working Java model that accurately depicts the course of evolution by natural selection. We also hope to gain a better understanding of botany and plants in general.

Interim Comments
Could you explain your plant and environment models a little more? If you are going for a graphical model, NetLogo would probably be easier for development than Java. After all, NetLogo was designed to do these kinds of simulations. Check out the wolf-sheep predation demo in NetLogo for a good example of natural selection. Do you have any mentors helping you with NetLogo and Java? I'm pretty knowledgeable on Java myself, and can get you in touch with some experienced NetLogo people. Just let me know.

--James Wernicke 21:47, 5 February 2012 (PST)