The role of soil surface in a sustainable semiarid ecosystem

Abstract

Patterns in a semiarid ecosystem are important because they directly and indirectly affect ecological processes, biodiversity, and ecosystem resilience. Understanding the causes and effects of these patterns is critical for long-term land surface management and conservation efforts in semiarid regions, which are especially sensitive to climate change and human-caused disturbances. In addition, developing mathematical models is challenging because of the involvement of several interacting components within an ecosystem. It is known that there is a regular connection between the vegetation and the living species in a habitat since some animals evolved to live in a semiarid ecosystem and rely on plants for food. In this work, we have constructed a coupled mathematical model to connect the water resource, vegetation, and living organisms and have investigated how the soil surface affects the resulting patterns in the long term. This study contributes to a better understanding of ecological patterns and processes in semiarid environments by shedding light on the complex interaction mechanisms that depend on the structure of semiarid ecosystems. For example, the impact of intensive rainfall on ecosystem dynamics can be profound, triggering critical transitions and leading to significant yield loss. The energy lost as it moves from one trophic level to the next, the potential for diversity to exacerbate species extinction rates, and the role of water flow in driving the system towards more robust stripe pattern formations are all significant factors. Despite these complexities, the findings offer critical insights into the influence of efforts to enhance ecosystem resilience and adapt to the challenges of climate change and human activities.