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This is amazing. Now I'm imagining the ability to simulate less-than-ideal conditions for tree growth. Placing the tree next to a building or on a hill or culling branches at certain stages in its life to see what happens next, etc.

I think my overall thought is: we see plenty of nice looking trees in games and graphics. What about authentically degenerate trees?

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Now I want a simulated caterpillar. In my area, we sometimes get caterpillar apocalypse where the whole forest will be full of them, sometimes they cover entire trees with their silk.

I think the most interesting result would be somewhere halfway between 0 and 100% nibbled.

Don't stop there: fungi and beetles are some other stressors that could be modeled alongside caterpillars using similar techniques. Like lepidopterans, they are very host-specific, though they have somewhat different transmission vectors, so you could see the defoliation (or other foliage impacts like leaf curling and yellowing) spread / not spread depending on factors such as proximity, moisture, wind and the parasite's lifecycle.

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