TY - JOUR
T1 - Phenotypic plasticity
T2 - A missing element in the theory of vegetation pattern formation
AU - Bennett, Jamie J.R.
AU - Bera, Bidesh K.
AU - Ferré, Michel
AU - Yizhaq, Hezi
AU - Getzin, Stephan
AU - Meron, Ehud
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2023 the Author(s).
PY - 2023/1/1
Y1 - 2023/1/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - fairy circles
KW - multi-scale patterns
KW - resilience
KW - scale-dependent feedback
KW - vegetation patterns
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85179898069&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.2311528120
DO - 10.1073/pnas.2311528120
M3 - Article
C2 - 38060562
AN - SCOPUS:85179898069
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 120
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 50
M1 - e2311528120
ER -