Dissemin is shutting down on January 1st, 2025

Published in

American Geophysical Union, Journal of Geophysical Research, G2(112), 2007

DOI: 10.1029/2006jg000261

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Noise-induced vegetation patterns in fire-prone savannas

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Orange circle
Published version: archiving restricted
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

1] The high degree of spatial organization of dryland vegetation has been often explained invoking a number of different deterministic mechanisms without ever explicitly addressing the role of noise in the process of pattern formation. Noise is usually believed to act on ecosystems as a source of disorganized random fluctuations. However, noise is also known for its ability to induce ordered states in nonlinear systems. An alternative mechanism is here proposed, which explains vegetation pattern formation in mesic and subhumid savannas as the joint effect of fire randomness and fire-vegetation feedbacks. This mechanism is purely noise-induced and has no deterministic counterpart.