Vegetation cover reveals the phase diagram of patch patterns in drylands
Drylands are ecosystems with limited water resources, often subjected to desertification. Conservation and restoration efforts towards these ecosystems depend on the interplay between ecological functioning and spatial patterns formed by local vegetation. Despite recent advances on the subject, an a...
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| Published in: | Physica A Vol. 534; p. 122048 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier B.V
15-11-2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Drylands are ecosystems with limited water resources, often subjected to desertification. Conservation and restoration efforts towards these ecosystems depend on the interplay between ecological functioning and spatial patterns formed by local vegetation. Despite recent advances on the subject, an adequate description of phase transitions between the various vegetated phases remains an open issue. Here, we gather vegetation data of drylands from Southern Spain using satellite images. Our findings support three vegetated phases, separated by two distinct phase transitions, including a continuous one, with new relations between scaling exponents of ecological variables. The phase diagram is obtained without a priori assumption about underlying ecological dynamics. We apply our analysis to a different dryland system in the Western United States and verify a compatible critical behavior, in agreement with the universality hypothesis.
•A new ecological variable allows us to build the phase diagram for MDL•A first and second order phase transitions are identified and critical exponents calculated•New scaling relations are inferred and validated with empirical data•Our findings link vegetation cover and the spatial patterns of patches•One provides a simple monitoring tool for regime shifts in semi-arid ecosystems |
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| ISSN: | 0378-4371 1873-2119 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.physa.2019.122048 |