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Positive feedbacks promote power-law clustering of Kalahari vegetation

Author

Listed:
  • Todd M. Scanlon

    (University of Virginia Charlottesville, Virginia 22903, USA)

  • Kelly K. Caylor

    (Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana 47401, USA)

  • Simon A. Levin

    (Princeton University Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA)

  • Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe

    (Princeton University Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA)

Abstract

Reading the signs Arid ecosystems cover about 40% of Earth's land area and are home to over two billion people, yet they remain vulnerable to climate change and human actions. Using numerical simulations, and data from Mediterranean ecosystems in Spain, Morocco and Greece, Kéfi et al. show that patch-size distribution of vegetation follows a power law. As grazing pressure increases, patch size deviates from the power law close to the transition to desert conditions. So patch-size distribution may be a useful early warning of desertification. The cover shows an arid landscape (top) in the El Planerón nature reserve in Belchite, Spain, and the lower panels show degradation in this landscape. In a separate paper, Scanlon et al. use satellite imagery to show that the size distribution of tree clusters in the Kalahari basin also follows a scale-free power law. This can be explained by positive feedback associated with preferential environments near existing trees. In News & Views Ricard Solé discusses both papers. COVER IMAGE Sonia & Michaël Kéfi/ Yolanda Pueyo/ Santiago Beguería Portugués

Suggested Citation

  • Todd M. Scanlon & Kelly K. Caylor & Simon A. Levin & Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe, 2007. "Positive feedbacks promote power-law clustering of Kalahari vegetation," Nature, Nature, vol. 449(7159), pages 209-212, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:449:y:2007:i:7159:d:10.1038_nature06060
    DOI: 10.1038/nature06060
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    Cited by:

    1. Ferreira, A.S. & Raposo, E.P. & Viswanathan, G.M. & da Luz, M.G.E., 2012. "The influence of the environment on Lévy random search efficiency: Fractality and memory effects," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(11), pages 3234-3246.
    2. King, Elizabeth G. & Franz, Trenton E., 2016. "Combining ecohydrologic and transition probability-based modeling to simulate vegetation dynamics in a semi-arid rangeland," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 329(C), pages 41-63.
    3. Nauta, Johannes & Simoens, Pieter & Khaluf, Yara, 2022. "Group size and resource fractality drive multimodal search strategies: A quantitative analysis on group foraging," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 590(C).
    4. Convertino, M., 2011. "Neutral metacommunity clustering and SAR: River basin vs. 2-D landscape biodiversity patterns," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(11), pages 1863-1879.
    5. Meron, Ehud, 2012. "Pattern-formation approach to modelling spatially extended ecosystems," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 234(C), pages 70-82.
    6. Marina E Wosniack & Marcos C Santos & Ernesto P Raposo & Gandhi M Viswanathan & Marcos G E da Luz, 2017. "The evolutionary origins of Lévy walk foraging," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(10), pages 1-31, October.

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