patterned vegetation

Several of the mechanisms underlying patterning of vegetation have been known and studied since at least the middle of the 20th century,{{cite journal |author=Watt, A |title=Pattern and process in the plant community |journal=Journal of Ecology |volume=35 |issue=1/2 | pages=1–22 |year=1947 |doi=10.2307/2256497|jstor=2256497 }} however, mathematical models replicating them have only been produced much more recently. Self-organization in spatial patterns is often a result of spatially uniform states becoming unstable through the monotonic growth and amplification of nonuniform perturbations.{{cite journal |author=Meron, E |title=Nonlinear Physics of Ecosystems |journal=CRC Press |year=2015 }} A well-known instability of this kind leads to so-called Turing patterns. These patterns occur at many scales of life, from cellular development (where they were first proposed) to pattern formation on animal pelts to sand dunes and patterned landscapes (see also pattern formation). In their simplest form models that capture Turing instabilities require two interactions at differing scales: local facilitation and more distant competition. For example, when Sato and Iwasa{{cite journal |vauthors=Satō K, Iwasa Y |title=Modeling of wave regeneration in subalpine Abies forests: population dynamics with spatial structure |journal=Ecology |volume=74 |issue=5 | pages=1538–1554 |year=1993 |doi=10.2307/1940081|jstor=1940081 }} produced a simple model of fir waves in the Japanese Alps, they assumed that trees exposed to cold winds would suffer mortality from frost damage, but upwind trees would protect nearby downwind trees from wind. Banding appears because the protective boundary layer created by the wind-most trees is eventually disrupted by turbulence, exposing more distant downwind trees to freezing damage once again.

When there is no directional resource flow across the landscape, spatial patterns may still appear in various regular and irregular forms along the rainfall gradient, including, in particular, hexagonal gap patterns at relatively high rainfall rates, stripe patterns at intermediate rates, and hexagonal spot patterns at low rates.{{cite journal |author=Meron, E |title=Vegetation pattern formation: the mechanisms behind the forms |journal=Physics Today |volume=72 |issue=11 | pages=30–36 |year=2019 |doi=10.1063/PT.3.4340|bibcode=2019PhT....72k..30M |s2cid=209478350 }} The presence of a clear directionality to some important factor (such as a freezing wind or surface flow down a slope) favors the formation of stripes (bands), oriented perpendicular to the flow direction, in wider ranges of rainfall rates.

Several mathematical models have been published that reproduce a wide variety of patterned landscapes, including semi-arid "tiger bush",{{cite journal |author=Klausmeier, C |title=Regular and irregular patterns in semiarid vegetation |journal=Science |volume=284 |issue=5421 | pages=1826–1828 |year=1999 |doi=10.1126/science.284.5421.1826|pmid=10364553 }}{{cite journal |vauthors=Kéfi S, Eppinga MB, De Ruiter PC, Rietkerk M |title=Bistability and regular spatial patterns in arid ecosystems |journal=Theoretical Ecology |volume=34 | pages=257–269 |year=2010|issue=4 |doi=10.1007/s12080-009-0067-z |doi-access=free }} hexagonal "fairy-circle" gap-patterns,{{cite journal |vauthors=Getzin S, Yizhaq H, Bell B, Erickson TE, Postle AC, Katra I, Tzuk O, Zelnik YR, Wiegand K, Wiegand T, Meron E |title=Discovery of fairy circles in Australia supports self-organization theory |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=113 | pages=3551–3556 |year=2016 |issue=13 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1522130113 |pmid=26976567 |pmc=4822591|bibcode=2016PNAS..113.3551G |doi-access=free }} woody-herbaceous landscapes,{{cite journal |vauthors=Gilad E, Shachak M, Meron E |title=Dynamics and spatial organization of plant communities in water-limited systems |journal=Theoretical Population Biology |volume=72 | pages=214–230 |year=2007 |issue=2 |doi=10.1016/j.tpb.2007.05.002|pmid=17628624 }} salt marshes,{{cite journal |vauthors=Rietkerk M, Van De Koppel J |title=Regular pattern formation in real ecosystems |journal=Trends in Ecology & Evolution |volume=23 |issue=3 | pages=169–175 |year=2008 |doi=10.1016/j.tree.2007.10.013|pmid=18255188 }} fog-dependent desert vegetation,{{cite journal |vauthors=Borthagaray AI, Fuentes MA, Marquet PA |title=Vegetation pattern formation in a fog-dependent ecosystem |journal=Journal of Theoretical Biology |volume=265 |issue=1 | pages=18–26 |year=2010 |doi=10.1016/j.jtbi.2010.04.020 |pmid=20417646|bibcode=2010JThBi.265...18B }} and mires and fens.{{cite journal |vauthors=Eppinga M, Rietkerk M, Borren W, Lapshina E, Bleuten W, Wassen MJ |title=Regular Surface Patterning of Peatlands: Confronting Theory with Field Data |journal=Ecosystems |volume=11 |issue=4 | pages=520–536|year=2008 |doi=10.1007/s10021-008-9138-z|doi-access=free }}

Although not strictly vegetation, sessile marine invertebrates such as mussels and oysters, have also been shown to form banding patterns.{{cite journal |vauthors=Van De Koppel J, Gascoigne J, Theraulaz G, Rietkerk M, Mooij W, Herman P |title=Experimental Evidence for Spatial Self-Organization and Its Emergent Effects in Mussel Bed Ecosystems |journal=Science |volume=322 |issue=5902 | pages=739–742|year=2008 |doi=10.1126/science.1163952|pmid=18974353 |bibcode=2008Sci...322..739V |s2cid=2340587 |url=https://www.rug.nl/research/portal/en/publications/experimental-evidence-for-spatial-selforganization-and-its-emergent-effects-in-mussel-bed-ecosystems(038fc517-c963-430f-b278-9b308ce8d65a).html }}

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• Disturbance (ecology)
• Ecological succession
• Pattern formation
• Patterns in nature
• Spatial ecology

Category:Ecology