Reactive glass and vegetation patterns

TL;DR

This paper investigates vegetation pattern formation in arid and semi-arid zones, revealing how water competition and precipitation influence the emergence of disordered and Turing-like spatial patterns.

Contribution

It introduces a model explaining the transition from disordered to patterned vegetation based on water competition and precipitation effects.

Findings

Vegetation forms disordered 'glassy' patterns in arid zones due to water competition.

Higher precipitation leads to clustering and Turing-like patterns.

Water competition induces an indirect repulsive interaction among plants.

Abstract

The formation of vegetation patterns in the arid and the semi-arid climatic zones is studied. Threshold for the biomass of the perennial flora is shown to be a relevant factor, leading to a frozen disordered patterns in the arid zone. In this ``glassy'' state, vegetation appears as a singular plant spots separated by irregular distances, and an indirect repulsive interaction among shrubs is induced by the competition for water. At higher precipitation rates, the diminish of hydrological losses in the presence of flora becomes important and yields spatial attraction and clustering of biomass. Turing-like patterns with characteristic length scale may emerge from the disordered structure due to this positive feedback instability.