Vegetation cover reveals the phase diagram of patch patterns in drylands

Fernando Meloni, Gilberto M. Nakamura, Cristiano R.F. Granzotti and Alexandre S. Martinez

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2019, vol. 534, issue C

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: Phase transitions; Spatial ecology; Vegetation patterns; Dryland vegetation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:534:y:2019:i:c:s0378437119311860

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2019.122048

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