Model of pattern formation in marsh ecosystems with nonlocal interactions

DOI10.1007/S00285-019-01437-1MaRDI QIDQ2299261zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Sofya Zaytseva, Junping Shi, Leah B. Shaw

Publication date 21 February 2020

Published in Journal of Mathematical Biology (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.01983

zbMATH Keywords

cooperationmarsh ecosystemnonlocal interactionspattern formationreaction-diffusionsteady state

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Pattern formations in context of PDEs (35B36) Reaction-diffusion equations (35K57) PDEs in connection with biology, chemistry and other natural sciences (35Q92) Population dynamics (general) (92D25) Ecology (92D40)

Abstract: Smooth cordgrass Spartina alterniflora is a grass species commonly found in tidal marshes. It is an ecosystem engineer, capable of modifying the structure of its surrounding environment through various feedbacks. The scale-dependent feedback between marsh grass and sediment volume is particularly of interest. Locally, the marsh vegetation attenuates hydrodynamic energy, enhancing sediment accretion and promoting further vegetation growth. In turn, the diverted water flow promotes the formation of erosion troughs over longer distances. This scale-dependent feedback may explain the characteristic spatially varying marsh shoreline, commonly observed in nature. We propose a mathematical framework to model grass-sediment dynamics as a system of reaction-diffusion equations with an additional nonlocal term quantifying the short-range positive and long-range negative grass-sediment interactions. We use a Mexican-hat kernel function to model this scale-dependent feedback. We perform a steady state biharmonic approximation of our system and derive conditions for the emergence of spatial patterns, corresponding to a spatially varying marsh shoreline. We find that the emergence of such patterns depends on the spatial scale and strength of the scale-dependent feedback, specified by the width and amplitude of the Mexican-hat kernel function.

Review text

In the present work the authors propose a phenomenological model to describe the dynamics of the marsh edge in terms of two-way interactions between marsh grass \textit{Spartina alternifora} and sedimentation. The aim of this paper lies in understanding whether the well-known scale-dependent (nonlocal) feedback between marsh vegetation and sedimentation can lead to spatially variable shoreline configurations. They propose a system of reaction-diffusion equations with an additional integral term with a Mexican-hat kernel function that describes the nature of this scale-dependent feedback. The proposed system is highly cooperative; as cooperative systems in which lack the classic activator-inhibitor mechanism necessary for pattern formation, it becomes of interest how and under what conditions spatial patterns may develop. It is performed a biharmonic approximation of our system and carry out analysis on the simpler biharmonic system that expresses the kernel function as separate short-range and long-range diffusion terms. Using the more mathematically tractable biharmonic system, we are then able to derive general condition for the formation of spatial patterns in a cooperative system such as in the introduced model. Further, using numerical simulations, the authors establish that the biharmonic model, while an approximation, is consistent with the original model, and therefore we can apply the theoretical results from the biharmonic system to help gain insight into the formation of patterns in the original system. After parameterizing the kernel function using a set of reasonable parameters from literature and it is established that spatial patterns can develop, given that the scale-dependent interactions between marsh vegetation and sediment dynamics are strong enough.

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Cited in

(9)

• Simulating the range expansion of \textit{Spartina alterniflora} in ecological engineering through constrained cellular automata model and GIS
• Bifurcation and pattern formation in an activator-inhibitor model with non-local dispersal
• Pattern formation in marsh ecosystems modeled through the interaction of marsh vegetation, mussels and sediment
• Nonlocal interactions between vegetation induce spatial patterning
• On a mathematical model for cancer invasion with repellent pH-taxis and nonlocal intraspecific interaction
• On equilibrium solutions to nonlocal mechanistic models in ecology
• Effect of nonlocal delay with strong kernel on vegetation pattern
• Spatiotemporal dynamics of nonlocal water-plant models: insights into the mechanisms of vegetation pattern formation
• Normal forms and pattern selection for reaction-diffusion equations with memory and nonlocal averaging

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