Diversity of vegetation patterns and desertification - art. no. 198101

A new model for vegetation patterns is introduced. The model reproduces a w ide range of patterns observed in water-limited regions, including drifting bands, spots, and labyrinths. It predicts transitions from bare soil at lo w precipitation to homogeneous vegetation at high precipitation, through in termediate states of spot, stripe, and hole patterns. It also predicts wide precipitation ranges where different stable states coexist. Using these pr edictions we propose a novel explanation of desertification phenomena and a new approach to classifying aridity.