Abstract

Fragmentation followed by desertification in water-limited resources and/or nutrient-poor ecosystems is a major risk to the biological productivity of vegetation. By using the vegetation interaction-redistribution model, we analyse the interaction between localised vegetation patches. Here we show analytically and numerically that the interaction between two or more patches is always repulsive. As a consequence, only a single localised vegetation patch is stable, and other localised bounded states or clusters of them are unstable. Following this, we discuss the impact of the repulsive nature of the interaction on the formation and the selection of vegetation patterns in fragmented ecosystems.

Details

Title
On the repulsive interaction between localised vegetation patches in scarce environments
Author
Berríos-Caro, E 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Clerc, M G 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Escaff, D 2 ; Sandivari, C 1 ; Tlidi, M 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

1  Universidad de Chile, Departamento de Física and Millennium Institute for Research in Optics, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas, Casilla, Chile (GRID:grid.443909.3) (ISNI:0000 0004 0385 4466) 
2  Universidad de los Andes, Complex Systems Group, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Aplicadas, Las Condes, Chile (GRID:grid.440627.3) (ISNI:0000 0004 0487 6659) 
3  Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), Département de Physique, Faculté des Sciences, Bruxelles, Belgium (GRID:grid.4989.c) (ISNI:0000 0001 2348 0746) 
Publication year
2020
Publication date
2020
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-62677-6
ProQuest document ID
2386369728
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.