A new statistical dynamic analysis on vegetation patterns in land ecosystems

As complex self-adaptive systems, land ecosystems usually tend to produce intricate vegetation patterns under specific environmental constraints, which have ever puzzled us for decades. In this paper, a universal principle on pattern formation of land ecosystems is highlighted as: a land ecosystem a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysica A Vol. 387; no. 14; pp. 3583 - 3593
Main Authors Feng, Qing Yi, Chai, Li He
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier B.V 01.06.2008
Subjects
Dynamics
Land ecosystem
Maximum flux principle
Pattern formation
Vegetation
Land ecosystem
Pattern formation
Dynamics
Maximum flux principle
Vegetation
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Summary:As complex self-adaptive systems, land ecosystems usually tend to produce intricate vegetation patterns under specific environmental constraints, which have ever puzzled us for decades. In this paper, a universal principle on pattern formation of land ecosystems is highlighted as: a land ecosystem always tries to find an optimal process to acquire maximized flux under a certain constraint or price. The underlying microscopic dynamic mechanism that induces complex vegetation patterns in land ecosystems is then revealed. Based on the Holdridge life zone system, evolutionary dynamic processes and structural classifications of several typical vegetation patterns are then simulated and discussed. Good agreements between theoretical analyses and numerical results are found. This paper demonstrates that the new theoretical analyses and simulation technique can be possibly applied to the whole land ecosystem, not only benefiting academic study on the formation and dynamics of vegetation patterns, but also providing implications for vegetation classification, vegetation protection and soil erosion control.
ISSN:0378-4371
1873-2119
DOI:10.1016/j.physa.2008.01.118