Emergent spatial patterns of coexistence in species-rich plant communities

TL;DR

This paper uses statistical physics to analyze plant communities, revealing scale-invariant clustering and modular correlations that mirror real ecosystems, providing insights into biodiversity stability.

Contribution

It provides the first theoretical evidence of scale-invariant plant clusters in ecosystems, linking percolation processes to ecological stability.

Findings

Identification of scale-invariant plant clusters

Reproduction of ecological features through percolation models

Implications for ecosystem stability with high biodiversity

Abstract

Statistical Physics has proved essential to analyze multi-agent environments. Motivated by the empirical observation of various non-equilibrium features in Barro Colorado and other ecological systems, we analyze a plant-species abundance model, presenting analytical evidence of scale-invariant plant clusters and non-trivial emergent modular correlations. Such first theoretical confirmation of a scale-invariant region, based on percolation processes, reproduces the key features in actual ecological ecosystems and can confer the most stable equilibrium for ecosystems with vast biodiversity.