Stephan Getzin, Sönke Holch, Johanna M. Ottenbreit, Hezi Yizhaq, Kerstin Wiegand
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Additionally, we mapped three plots repeatedly during the rainfall seasons 2020–2023 to assess how the emerging grasses within FCs changed the FC patterns after rainfall.</p><h3 data-test=\"abstract-sub-heading\">Results</h3><p>We found that the most regular, spatially periodic, FCs occurred in areas with deep aeolian sands where rain water infiltrates very quickly and homogenously across the study plot, which enables the most symmetric competitive interactions between the grasses. After ample rainfall following a drought period, between 58 and 34% of all mature FCs revegetated. These 1092 closing FCs were 73 times more than the 15 new FCs that formed during the same time. 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引用次数: 0
摘要
背景纳米比亚的仙女圈(FCs)是纳米布沙漠沿线的一种特殊植被模式。为了揭示这些生物量-水反馈作用,我们在此重点分析了降雨事件后植被响应方面的仙女圈空间模式。方法我们分析了纳米布10个无人机测绘研究地块的仙女圈分布情况,并将其空间模式与土壤可渗透性联系起来。此外,我们还在 2020-2023 年的降雨季节对三个地块进行了反复测绘,以评估降雨后 FC 内新出现的草种如何改变 FC 的模式。结果我们发现,最有规律的空间周期性 FC 出现在具有深厚风化沙的地区,这些地区的雨水能够快速均匀地渗透到整个研究地块,从而使草种之间的竞争性相互作用最为对称。干旱期过后,雨水充沛,58% 到 34% 的成熟功能区重新植被。这1092个关闭的功能区是同期形成的15个新功能区的73倍。我们的研究表明,植被对降雨和土壤水的动态响应是 FC 模式的主要驱动因素。总之,研究强调纳米比亚的仙女圈是一种自组织的新兴植被模式,由生物量-水反馈和草类对有限水资源的竞争所驱动。
Spatio-temporal dynamics of fairy circles in Namibia are driven by rainfall and soil infiltrability
Context
Namibia’s fairy circles (FCs) form an extraordinary vegetation pattern along the Namib Desert. Recent evidence from multiple fieldwork activities is increasingly supporting the view that FCs result from biomass-water feedbacks and plant self-organization.
Objectives
To shed light on these biomass-water feedbacks, we focused here on a temporal analysis of the spatial FC patterns with regard to vegetation response after rainfall events.
Methods
We analyzed the distribution of FCs in 10 drone-mapped study plots of the Namib and related their spatial patterns to the soil infiltrability. Additionally, we mapped three plots repeatedly during the rainfall seasons 2020–2023 to assess how the emerging grasses within FCs changed the FC patterns after rainfall.
Results
We found that the most regular, spatially periodic, FCs occurred in areas with deep aeolian sands where rain water infiltrates very quickly and homogenously across the study plot, which enables the most symmetric competitive interactions between the grasses. After ample rainfall following a drought period, between 58 and 34% of all mature FCs revegetated. These 1092 closing FCs were 73 times more than the 15 new FCs that formed during the same time. The closing FCs occurred in areas where there was locally a higher density of FCs, which act as underground water sources for the surrounding grasses.
Conclusions
Our study shows that the dynamic vegetation response to rainfall and soil water is the key driver of the FC patterns. Overall, the research underlines that Namibia’s fairy circles are a self-organized emergent vegetation pattern that is driven by biomass-water feedbacks and the competition of grasses for limiting water resources.
期刊介绍:
Landscape Ecology is the flagship journal of a well-established and rapidly developing interdisciplinary science that focuses explicitly on the ecological understanding of spatial heterogeneity. Landscape Ecology draws together expertise from both biophysical and socioeconomic sciences to explore basic and applied research questions concerning the ecology, conservation, management, design/planning, and sustainability of landscapes as coupled human-environment systems. Landscape ecology studies are characterized by spatially explicit methods in which spatial attributes and arrangements of landscape elements are directly analyzed and related to ecological processes.