Rufus Cope Undergraduate Dissertation 2017/18

Development of a Cellular Automata-based Model of Desert Locust Swarms

Supervised by D.Walker

Abstract

Locusts have been a pest since mankind's endeavours in agriculture first began. Mentioned in both the Qur'an and the Bible as one of the Plagues of Egypt, locusts have devastated civilisations throughout time. Locust swarms are capable of consuming millions of tonnes of food over the course of a season, so any patterns that can be drawn from their behaviour may prove invaluable in controlling swarms.

The aim of this project is to model and analyse locusts' movements, to facilitate the prediction of future locust's march and investigate potential methods of deterring swarm damage.