Vegetation patterns and ecosystem resilience: Why their relationship status is 'complicated'

In dryland ecosystems, increased environmental stress often triggers a change from a uniform vegetation cover to patchy vegetation patterns. Some theoretical studies suggest that this spatial self-organization of vegetation helps ecosystems delay and avoid desertification. Using a new theoretical framework, scientists from the Center for Advanced Systems Understanding (CASUS) at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf demonstrate that this is not the case in general. They argue that such vegetation patterns can, by contrast, be a sign of reduced resilience.