Publication Date:
2015-02-07
Description:
Self-organized spatial vegetation patterning is widespread and has been described using models of scale-dependent feedback between plants and water on homogeneous substrates. As rainfall decreases, these models yield a characteristic sequence of patterns with increasingly sparse vegetation, followed by sudden collapse to desert. Thus, the final, spot-like pattern may provide early warning for such catastrophic shifts. In many arid ecosystems, however, termite nests impart substrate heterogeneity by altering soil properties, thereby enhancing plant growth. We show that termite-induced heterogeneity interacts with scale-dependent feedbacks to produce vegetation patterns at different spatial grains. Although the coarse-grained patterning resembles that created by scale-dependent feedback alone, it does not indicate imminent desertification. Rather, mound-field landscapes are more robust to aridity, suggesting that termites may help stabilize ecosystems under global change.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Bonachela, Juan A -- Pringle, Robert M -- Sheffer, Efrat -- Coverdale, Tyler C -- Guyton, Jennifer A -- Caylor, Kelly K -- Levin, Simon A -- Tarnita, Corina E -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Feb 6;347(6222):651-5. doi: 10.1126/science.1261487.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. ; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. Mpala Research Centre, Post Office Box 555, Nanyuki, Kenya. ; Mpala Research Centre, Post Office Box 555, Nanyuki, Kenya. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. ; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. Mpala Research Centre, Post Office Box 555, Nanyuki, Kenya. ctarnita@princeton.edu.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25657247" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
*Climate Change
;
Conservation of Natural Resources
;
*Desert Climate
;
*Ecosystem
;
Feedback
;
Isoptera/*physiology
;
Models, Biological
;
*Plant Development
;
*Rain
;
Soil
;
*Water
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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