Regular and Irregular Vegetation Pattern Formation in Semiarid Regions: A Study on Discrete Klausmeier Model

Abstract EN

The research on regular and irregular vegetation pattern formation in semiarid regions is an important field in ecology.

Applying the framework of coupled map lattice, a novel nonlinear space- and time-discrete model is developed based on discretizing the classical Klausmeier model and the vegetation pattern formation in semiarid regions is restudied in this research.

Through analysis of Turing-type instability for the discrete model, the conditions for vegetation pattern formation are determined.

The discrete model is verified by Klausmeier’s results with the same parametric data, and shows advantages in quantitatively describing diverse vegetation patterns in semiarid regions, such as the patterns of regular mosaicirregular patches, stripes, fractured stripesspots, and stripes-spots, in comparing with former theoretical models.

Moreover, the discrete model predicts variations of rainfall and vegetation types can cause transitions of vegetation patterns.

This research demonstrates that the nonlinear mechanism of the discrete model better captures the diversity and complexity of vegetation pattern formation in semiarid regions.