321,812 research outputs found
A morphometric analysis of vegetation patterns in dryland ecosystems
Vegetation in dryland ecosystems often forms remarkable spatial patterns. These range from regular bands of vegetation alternating with bare ground, to vegetated spots and labyrinths, to regular gaps of bare ground within an otherwise continuous expanse of vegetation. It has been suggested that spotted vegetation patterns could indicate that collapse into a bare ground state is imminent, and the morphology of spatial vegetation patterns, therefore, represents a potentially valuable source of information on the proximity of regime shifts in dryland ecosystems. In this paper, we have developed quantitative methods to characterize the morphology of spatial patterns in dryland vegetation. Our approach is based on algorithmic techniques that have been used to classify pollen grains on the basis of textural patterning, and involves constructing feature vectors to quantify the shapes formed by vegetation patterns. We have analysed images of patterned vegetation produced by a computational model and a small set of satellite images from South Kordofan (South Sudan), which illustrates that our methods are applicable to both simulated and real-world data. Our approach provides a means of quantifying patterns that are frequently described using qualitative terminology, and could be used to classify vegetation patterns in large-scale satellite surveys of dryland ecosystems
Vegetation and environmental patterns on soils derived from Hawkesbury Sandstone and Narrabeen substrata in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, New South Wales
[Abstract]:
The vegetation patterns in the Central Coast region of New South Wales have been extensively studied with respect to single environmental variables, particularly soil nutrients. However, few data are available on the effects of multiple environmental variables. This study examines the relationships between vegetation and multiple environmental variables in natural vegetation on two underlying rock types, Hawkesbury sandstone and Narrabeen group shales and sandstones, in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, Sydney. Floristic composition and 17 environmental factors were characterized using duplicate 500 m2 quadrats from fifty sites representing a wide range of vegetation types. The patterns in vegetation and environmental factors were examined through multivariate analyses: indicator species analysis was used to provide an objective classification of plant community types, and the relationships between vegetation and environmental factors within the two soil types were examined through indirect and direct gradient analyses. Eleven plant communities were identified, which showed strong agreement with previous studies. The measured environmental factors showed strong correlations with vegetation patterns: within both soil types, the measured environmental variables explained approximately 32 - 35% of the variation in vegetation. No single measured environmental variable adequately described the observed gradients in vegetation; rather, vegetation gradients showed strong correlations with complex environmental gradients. These complex environmental gradients included nutrient, moisture and soil physical and site variables. These results suggest a simple 'nutrient' hypothesis regarding vegetation patterns in the Central Coast region is inadequate to explain variation in vegetation within soil types
Bistability and regular spatial patterns in arid ecosystems.
A variety of patterns observed in ecosystems can be explained by resource–concentration mechanisms. A resource–concentration mechanism occurs when organisms increase the lateral flow of a resource toward them, leading to a local concentration of this resource and to its depletion from areas farther away. In resource–concentration systems, it has been proposed that certain spatial patterns could indicate proximity to discontinuous transitions where an ecosystem abruptly shifts from one stable state to another. Here, we test this hypothesis using a model of vegetation dynamics in arid ecosystems. In this model, a resource– concentration mechanism drives a positive feedback between vegetation and soil water availability. We derived the conditions leading to bistability and pattern formation. Our analysis revealed that bistability and regular pattern formation are linked in our model. This means that, when regular vegetation patterns occur, they indicate that the system is along a discontinuous transition to desertification. Yet, in real systems, only observing regular vegetation patterns without identifying the pattern-driving mechanism might not be enough to conclude that an ecosystem is along a discontinuous transition because similar patterns can emerge from different ecological mechanisms
Minimal mechanisms for vegetation patterns in semiarid regions
The minimal ecological requirements for formation of regular vegetation
patterns in semiarid systems have been recently questioned. Against the general
belief that a combination of facilitative and competitive interactions is
necessary, recent theoretical studies suggest that, under broad conditions,
nonlocal competition among plants alone may induce patterns. In this paper, we
review results along this line, presenting a series of models that yield
spatial patterns when finite-range competition is the only driving force. A
preliminary derivation of this type of model from a more detailed one that
considers water-biomass dynamics is also presented. Keywords: Vegetation
patterns, nonlocal interactionsComment: 8 pages, 4 figure
Vegetation pattern formation in semiarid systems without facilitative mechanisms
Regular vegetation patterns in semiarid ecosystems are believed to arise from
the interplay between long-range competition and facilitation processes acting
at smaller distances. We show that, under rather general conditions, long-range
competition alone may be enough to shape these patterns. To this end we propose
a simple, general model for the dynamics of vegetation, which includes only
long-range competition between plants. Competition is introduced through a
nonlocal term, where the kernel function quantifies the intensity of the
interaction. We recover the full spectrum of spatial structures typical of
vegetation models that also account for facilitation in addition to
competition.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figure
Trees in a grazing landscape: vegetation patterns in sheep-grazing agro-ecosystems in Southern Queensland
The modification of natural woodland tree densities through tree removal or clearing has been used by landholders to increase native grass production for livestock grazing. This paper describes studies that aim to determine if vegetation management by graziers affect floristic composition, species richness and plant cover (including production attributes) in the Traprock wool-producing region of southern Queensland, Forty-seven sites were sampled across the study area according to vegetation type (ironbark/gum woodland and box woodland), density of mature trees (low: 6 trees/ha, medium: 6-20 trees/ha, and high >20 trees/ha), and the presence or absence of woody regrowth in the understorey to determine vegetation patterns, A subset of 18 sites was selected to establish grazing exclusion experiments in both vegetation types under varying mature tree densities. This paper describes the general patterns in vegetation under differing mature tree densities and provides preliminary results of the 12-month grazing exclusion experiments
A topographic mechanism for arcing of dryland vegetation bands
Banded patterns consisting of alternating bare soil and dense vegetation have
been observed in water-limited ecosystems across the globe, often appearing
along gently sloped terrain with the stripes aligned transverse to the
elevation gradient. In many cases these vegetation bands are arced, with field
observations suggesting a link between the orientation of arcing relative to
the grade and the curvature of the underlying terrain. We modify the water
transport in the Klausmeier model of water-biomass interactions, originally
posed on a uniform hillslope, to qualitatively capture the influence of terrain
curvature on the vegetation patterns. Numerical simulations of this modified
model indicate that the vegetation bands change arcing-direction from
convex-downslope when growing on top of a ridge to convex-upslope when growing
in a valley. This behavior is consistent with observations from remote sensing
data that we present here. Model simulations show further that whether bands
grow on ridges, valleys, or both depends on the precipitation level. A survey
of three banded vegetation sites, each with a different aridity level,
indicates qualitatively similar behavior.Comment: 26 pages, 13 figures, 2 table
Empirical analysis of vegetation dynamics and the possibility of a catastrophic desertification transition
The process of desertification in the semi-arid climatic zone is considered
by many as a catastrophic regime shift, since the positive feedback of
vegetation density on growth rates yields a system that admits alternative
steady states. Some support to this idea comes from the analysis of static
patterns, where peaks of the vegetation density histogram were associated with
these alternative states. Here we present a large-scale empirical study of
vegetation dynamics, aimed at identifying and quantifying directly the effects
of positive feedback. To do that, we have analyzed vegetation density across
of the African Sahel region, with spatial
resolution of meters, using three consecutive snapshots. The
results are mixed. The local vegetation density (measured at a single pixel)
moves towards the average of the corresponding rainfall line, indicating a
purely negative feedback. On the other hand, the chance of spatial clusters (of
many "green" pixels) to expand in the next census is growing with their size,
suggesting some positive feedback. We show that these apparently contradicting
results emerge naturally in a model with positive feedback and strong
demographic stochasticity, a model that allows for a catastrophic shift only in
a certain range of parameters. Static patterns, like the double peak in the
histogram of vegetation density, are shown to vary between censuses, with no
apparent correlation with the actual dynamical features
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