Bacteria Colony Simulation

This paper presents the results of a project simulating microbial communities using agent-based modeling. Bacteria are placed in a discrete space and make local decisions causing the colony to grow or shrink. To achieve this, the simulation tries to simulate as many agents and their decisions as possible. For this reason, bacteria operate according to a simple set of rules. Growth is governed by Blackman kinetics, which determines the biological functions of an agent based only on its glucose or sugar uptake. The accuracy of the simulation not only requires the biological processes of the agents to be carried out but tracking and representing the assigned bodies in a 3D environment. The presented model is implemented in C++ and the visuals are handled by Raylib. The simulation can simulate up to 15000 bacteria with 30 FPS and achieves several life stages of bacterial colonies swarming, stagnation, and death.