Phenotypic plasticity: A missing element in the theory of vegetation pattern formation
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: Regular spatial patterns of vegetation are a common sight in drylands. Their formation is a population-level response to water stress that increases water availability for the few via partial plant mortality. At the individual level, plants can also adapt to water stress by changing their phenotype. Phenotypic plasticity of individual plants and spatial patterning of plant populations have extensively been studied independently, but the likely interplay between the two robust mechanisms has remained unexplored. In this paper, we incorporate phenotypic plasticity into a multi-level theory of vegetation pattern formation and use a fascinating ecological phenomenon, the Namibian "fairy circles," to demonstrate the need for such a theory. We show that phenotypic changes in the root structure of plants, coupled with pattern-forming feedback within soil layers, can resolve two puzzles that the current theory fails to explain: observations of multi-scale patterns and the absence of theoretically predicted large-scale stripe and spot patterns along the rainfall gradient. Importantly, we find that multi-level responses to stress unveil a wide variety of more effective stress-relaxation pathways, compared to single-level responses, implying a previously underestimated resilience of dryland ecosystems.
Institutions: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, University of Göttingen
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: hybrid
Funder: Israel Science Foundation
Award: G2030368416
OpenAlex ID: W4389429946