November 1, 2019
Summary
Punit Gandhi (Virginia Commonwealth University) Water Transport in Models of Dryland Vegetation Patterns
Full Description
Abstract: Reaction-advection-diffusion models that capture the interactions between plants, surface water and soil moisture can qualitatively reproduce community-scale vegetation patterns that are observed in dryland ecosystems. On gently sloped terrain, these patterns often appear as bands of vegetation growth alternating with bare soil. The vegetation bands can be tens of meters thick with spacing on the order of a hundred meters, and form a regular striped pattern that often occupies tens of square kilometers on the landscape. I will focus on aspects of the surface/subsurface water dynamics within these models. Capturing these hydrological processes on appropriate timescales may allow us to better utilize observational data as we work to identify the dominant mechanisms underlying the formation of dryland vegetation patterns and understand how environmental factors influence pattern characteristics.
