On the spatial and temporal links between vegetation, climate, and soil moisture
The impact of climate fluctuations can be observed in the dynamics of vegetation and most particularly in the sensitive environment of savannas. In this paper we present a model for the local competition for soil moisture among neighboring vegetation. The initial condition for the model is a random field where at each point the soil moisture is the mean water content when there are no spatial interactions between sites. The mean soil moisture values account for stochasticity of climate and losses from evapotranspiration and leakage which depend on the existing water content. A spatial dynamics is then implemented based on the explicit minimization of the global water stress over the region. This approach explains the coexistence of herbaceous and woody plants in savannas as well as the changes in canopy density that have been documented in the southwest of the United States as a function of regional climatic fluctuations.
Duke Scholars
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Related Subject Headings
- Environmental Engineering
- 4011 Environmental engineering
- 4005 Civil engineering
- 3707 Hydrology
- 0907 Environmental Engineering
- 0905 Civil Engineering
- 0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience
Citation
Published In
DOI
ISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Related Subject Headings
- Environmental Engineering
- 4011 Environmental engineering
- 4005 Civil engineering
- 3707 Hydrology
- 0907 Environmental Engineering
- 0905 Civil Engineering
- 0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience