Ecogeomorphic coevolution of semiarid hillslopes: Emergence of banded and striped vegetation patterns through interaction of biotic and abiotic processes

Saco, P.M.; Moreno-de las Heras, M.

Abstract

[1] Nonlinear interactions between physical and biological factors give rise to the emergence of remarkable landform‐vegetation patterns. Patterns of vegetation and resource redistribution are linked to productivity and carrying capacity of the land. As a consequence, growing concern over ecosystem resilience to perturbations that could lead to irreversible land degradation imposes a pressing need for understanding the processes, nonlinear interactions, and feedbacks, leading to the coevolution of these patterns. For arid and semiarid regions, causes for concern have increased at a rapid pace during the last few decades due to growing anthropic and climatic pressures that have resulted in the degradation of numerous areas worldwide. This paper aims at improving our understanding of the ecogeomorphic evolution of landscape patterns in semiarid areas with a sparse biomass cover through a modeling approach. A coupled vegetation‐pattern formation and landform evolution model is used to study the coevolution of vegetation and topography over centennial timescales. Results show that self‐organized vegetation patterns strongly depend on feedbacks with coevolving landforms. The resulting patterns depend on the erosion rate and mechanism (dominance of either fluvial or diffusive processes), which are affected by biotic factors. Moreover, results show that ecohydrologic processes leading to banded pattern formation, when coupled with landform processes, can also lead to completely different patterns (stripes of vegetation along drainage lines) that are equally common in semiarid areas. These findings reinforce the importance of analyzing the coevolution of landforms and vegetation to improve our understanding of the patterns and structures found in nature.

Citation

Saco, P., & Moreno-de las Heras, M. (2013). Ecogeomorphic coevolution of semiarid hillslopes: Emergence of banded and striped vegetation patterns through interaction of biotic and abiotic processes. Water Resources Research, 49(1), 115-126. https://doi.org/10.1029/2012wr012001

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 15, 2012
• Online Publication Date: Jan 11, 2013
• Publication Date: Jan 11, 2013
• Deposit Date: Nov 28, 2013
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 1, 2018
• Journal: Water Resources Research
• Print ISSN: 0043-1397
• Electronic ISSN: 1944-7973
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 49
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 115-126
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2012wr012001