1. Computer graphics and ecological informatics
Faculty of Mathematics
and Computer Science
Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology
Study courses: Applied Computer Science
(B.Sc. and) M.Sc.
Michael Henke
Winfried Kurth
Katarína Smoleňová

2. Workgroups at the Department Ecoinformatics
Biometrics and Forest Growth
permanent staff:
Winfried Kurth
Joachim Saborowski
Jürgen Nagel
Reinhold Meyer
Workgroup 1:
Computer graphics and ecological informatics
Workgroup 2:
Statistical models, sampling,
spatial statistics and regionalization
Workgroup 3:
Spatial information systems in forest ecology
Workgroup 4:
local computing centre for the Forestry Faculty,
consulting in statistics and computation
Workgroup 5:
e-learning in forest sciences and ecology
Workgroup 6:
Forest growth modelling (with NWFVA)

3. Research activities (and possible topics for projects and M.Sc. theses...)
Computer graphics
and ecological informatics
(= computer science, applied to ecology)

4. part of a regulatory network (biosynthesis of gibberellic acid)
Functional-structural models of organisms and adequate ways to formalize them
formalism
RGG
language XL
software
GroIMP
model
j k, l m ==>j m,l k;
wild type dwarf mutant
part of a regulatory network (biosynthesis of gibberellic acid)

5. poplar model, taking the effect of phytohormones into account
(Buck-Sorlin et al. 2008)
generated with the free software GroIMP, (Kniemeyer et al. 2008)

6. Functional-structural plant models - Examples
wheat: Evers et al. 2010
tomato: Buck-Sorlin et al. Unpubl.
rice: Xu et al. 2011
cut-rose: Buck-Sorlin et al. 2011

7. at a higher scale level: simulations of forest stands
VRML- Virtual Reality Output
CCL -
Crown
Competition
light
Ecological site
classification 7

8. raytracing: basic principle
Improved rendering of 3-d scenes and simulation of radiation
raytracing: basic principle

10. Currently offered topic for project work and/or thesis
Capturing 3-d data
Currently offered topic for project work and/or thesis
Topic: Further development of an interface for digitizing objects (particularly plants) with the electro-magnetic tracking system FASTRAK. Development of an interface to the software GroIMP.
FASTRAK gives output which allows to describe chosen points in space with 6 variables (position, orientation). The challenge is to link the resulting point cloud with metainformation about the structure of the plant during the process of measurement. Furthermore, locations of leaves, flowers and fruits shall be captured and marked. These data will serve as a basis for simulation models of plant growth and architecture in agronomy and forestry.
Tools which will be used: Blender, Python, Java, GroIMP.

11. offered classes (summer term)
modules
winter/
summer
term
hours per week
ECTS
Functional-structural Plant Models S 4  6
Simulation models (in German) 3
Physical and physiological processes in ecology
(in German) 2
Bioclimatology (in German) 6
Spatial Information Systems
S, W
additionally: projects, colloquium for doctoral students
List of Project, Bachelor, Master and Ph.D thesis topics

12. offered classes (winter term)
modules
winter/
summer
term
hours per week
ECTS
Seminar on Computer Graphics W 2 6
Ecological modelling with C++ 4
Advanced data analysis (in German)
Project Forest ecosystem analysis and information processing
W, S 12
Silviculture (in German)
(application area)  7
Spatial Information Systems
(in German) 3

13. to contact us: mhenke@uni-goettingen. de wk@cs. uni-goettingen
to contact us: see also: „physically“: Büsgenweg 4, Abteilung Ökoinformatik, Biometrie und Waldwachstum, 1st floor, room 76/89/90