Modeling Dryland Landscapes

Meron, Ehud

doi:10.1051/mmnp/20116109

Cited by 33 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…These universal aspects are expected to appear in more detailed ecosystem models as well (Borgogno et al 2009;Meron 2011a). Extending this study to such models can provide information about the dependence of the front velocity and of the snaking structure on specific ecological and physical parameters, such as various plant traits, soil properties, topography, and environmental stresses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gradual regime shifts in spatially extended ecosystems

2012

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Ecosystem regime shifts are regarded as abrupt global transitions from one stable state to an alternative stable state, induced by slow environmental changes or by global disturbances. Spatially extended ecosystems, however, can also respond to local disturbances by the formation of small domains of the alternative state. Such a response can lead to gradual regime shifts involving front propagation and the coalescence of alternative-state domains. When one of the states is spatially patterned, a multitude of intermediate stable states appears, giving rise to step-like gradual shifts with extended pauses at these states. Using a minimal model, we study gradual state transitions and show that they precede abrupt transitions. We propose indicators to probe gradual regime shifts, and suggest that a combination of abrupt-shift indicators and gradual-shift indicators might be needed to unambiguously identify regime shifts. Our results are particularly relevant to desertification in drylands where transitions to bare soil take place from spotted vegetation, and the degradation process appears to involve step-like events of local vegetation mortality caused by repeated droughts.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gradual regime shifts in spatially extended ecosystems

2012

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“…More details about the original model can be found in Refs. [5,15]. Equation (1) have a nonzero stationary uniform solution that represents uniform vegetation.…”

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confidence: 99%

Interplay between Turing Mechanisms can Increase Pattern Diversity

et al. 2014

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We use the context of dryland vegetation to study a general problem of complex pattern-forming systems: multiple pattern-forming instabilities that are driven by distinct mechanisms but share the same spectral properties. We find that the co-occurrence of two Turing instabilities when the driving mechanisms counteract each other in some region of the parameter space results in the growth of a single mode rather than two interacting modes. The interplay between the two mechanisms compensates for the simpler dynamics of a single mode by inducing a wider variety of patterns, which implies higher biodiversity in dryland ecosystems.

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“…Vegetation pattern dynamics associate with long-range competition over the limited water and nutrient resources, which are spatial heterogeneous distribution in the arid region (Valentin et al, 1999;Rietkerk and van de Koppel, 2008;Meron, 2011;Yizhaq et al, 2014). Many authors had inferred from their observations that the banded patterns should migrate upslope, as the upslope edge consisted of young and pioneer plant, and the downslope edge consisted of decayed plants (Aguiar and Sala, 1999;Deblauwe et al, 2011;Muñoz-Robles et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%