Natural Distribution

Ecological Principles That Influence Natural Distribution

To create realistic Environments, its critical to understand how assets are distributed in nature. Ecological patterns emerge from environmental conditions, biological interactions, and geological processes, resulting in  different distribution types.

Distribution Patterns

• Clumped Distribution: The most common in nature, where assets like trees or plants cluster due to favorable microhabitats (e.g. soil condition). Different Scenarios require different clustering-types, which we will explore later.
• Uniform Distribution: Assets are evenly spaced, often due to competition for resources like light or water. An Example are Canopy trees in a forest, which spread out to try having the maximum amount of space between them and their neighbours to maximize their access to these resources.
• Random Distribution: Uncommon in natural ecosystems. It exists in uniform environments with minimal interactions. An example would be wind-dispersed plants like dandelions who get randomly scattered in open fields. While often used in procedural generation (scatter node with relax iterations = 0) , it looks very unnatural and should be avoided if its not intentional.

  

These patterns are shaped by factors like soil type, moisture, light availability, terrain and animal seed dispersal, with clumped distributions being the most common due to different “resource patches”.

Influencing Factors

• Competition: Larger plants, such as canopy trees, compete for resources like sunlight and water, resulting in an even spread in which they try to have the maximum distance to each tree around them. Meanwhile smaller plants in the understory adjust to grow in spots where competition from the bigger plants is less intense
• Facilitation: Some species enhance conditions for others, like nitrogen-fixing plants which are promoting clustering growth, because they enrich the soil with nutrients.
• Environmental Conditions: Soil pH, nutrient levels, moisture, and light are the main factors for deciding on which plants can grow in certain areas. The landscape also plays a crucial role tho: Steep slopes favor rocks and shrubs, while flat, moist areas can support optimal growth and therefore dense vegetation.
• Geological and Temporal Factors: Rocks cluster near cliffs or riverbeds due to erosion, and logs accumulate in forested areas. Seasonal shifts also influences growth.

1.3 Interactions Between Assets

• Rocks: Create microhabitats by providing shade, moisture, and wind protection, encouraging mosses, lichens, or small plants to grow nearby.
• Logs: As fallen trees decay, they release nutrients, fostering clusters of fungi, mosses, or saplings. They also act as barriers, altering water flow and creating moist niches.
• Vegetation Under Trees: Shade-tolerant plants like ferns flourish in filtered light, while allelopathic trees (e.g., black walnut) suppress understory growth with chemicals, leaving bare patches.

• Examples

   

  a little ducky