Their project sparked a nationwide debate in South Korea. It emerges that scientists from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan predicted the effects and possible pathways of one of the largest fires in recent years in that country. The creators of the report prepared for Greenpeace are: AMU graduate Dr Andrzej Kokosza, currently working at the University of Calgary and involved in mathematical plant development design, and Dr Wojciech Pałubicki from the AMU Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science.
Dr Pałubicki leads a faculty group modelling phenomena. As he explains, these are natural phenomena, often related to plant vegetation. It is within this group that scientists consider how to mathematically capture the shape and growth of trees and other plants, and later visualise the results of their research using computer graphics.
Greenpeace commissioned the project and explained its objectives in an email to researchers in Poznań. They expressed a desire to obtain a simulation of the potential consequences of implementing the Korean government's plan to clear the mixed forests on Mount Manisan. The government aims to establish a monoculture forestry industry in that area.
– We accepted the challenge and tried to visualise what the area might look like after the modifications and implementation of monoculture, identifying growth parameters related to climatic constraints. At the same time, we concluded that once this model was implemented, we can visualise what we believe the degradation of this area would look like, e.g. in the event of a disaster such as a fire or the collapse of part of the area,” they say.
