Existence theorem for a model of dryland vegetation (Q553473)

For the dryland vegetation model of \textit{E. Gilad, J. von Hardenberg, A. Provenzale, M. Shachak} and \textit{E. Meron} [``Ecosystem engineers: from pattern formation to habitat creation'', Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, No. 9, Article ID 098105, 4p. (2004); ``A mathematical model of plants as ecosystem engineers'', J. Theor. Biol. 244, No. 4, 680--691 (2007)], the authors first prove the existence of its weak solutions. Their approach, based on the classical Galerkin methods, combines and makes use of parabolic regularization, truncation, maximum principle, and compactness. Some new properties and regularity results for the Gilad model are also established.