IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/phsmap/v534y2019ics0378437119311860.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Vegetation cover reveals the phase diagram of patch patterns in drylands

Author

Listed:
  • Meloni, Fernando
  • Nakamura, Gilberto M.
  • Granzotti, Cristiano R.F.
  • Martinez, Alexandre S.

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Meloni, Fernando & Nakamura, Gilberto M. & Granzotti, Cristiano R.F. & Martinez, Alexandre S., 2019. "Vegetation cover reveals the phase diagram of patch patterns in drylands," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 534(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:534:y:2019:i:c:s0378437119311860
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2019.122048
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378437119311860
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only. Journal offers the option of making the article available online on Science direct for a fee of $3,000
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.physa.2019.122048?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:534:y:2019:i:c:s0378437119311860. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/physica-a-statistical-mechpplications/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.