Does phase separation explain spatial patterns in ecosystems?

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• Johan van de Koppel (NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research)
• Friday 14 June 2024, 15:40-16:30
• Seminar Room 1, Newton Institute.

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ADIW04 - Anti-Diffusion in Multiphase and Active Flows

Johan van de Koppel & Quan-Xing Liu Spatial patterns are ubiquitous in many pristine ecosystems, playing an important role in defining the adaptive capacity of ecosystems to changing environmental conditions. The predominant explanation for pattern formation in ecosystems is Alan Turing’s activator-inhibitor system, where local positive feedback improves growth, while long-range negative feedback inhibits growth. Here, I argue that phase separation could provide an alternative class of mechanism for self-organized pattern formation in ecosystems, that builds on the aggregation of a biotic or abiotic species, sediment, or nutrients, and even herbivores. Using a generalized mathematical model, we demonstrate that ecosystems with aggregation-driven patterns have fundamentally different patterns, dynamics and resilience properties than ecosystems with patterns that formed through scale-dependent feedbacks.  References: Liu, Q.X., Doelman, A., Rottschäfer, V., de Jager, M., Herman, P.M., Rietkerk, M. and van de Koppel, J., 2013. Phase separation explains a new class of self-organized spatial patterns in ecological systems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(29), pp.11905-11910. Liu, Q.X., Rietkerk, M., Herman, P.M., Piersma, T., Fryxell, J.M. and van de Koppel, J., 2016. Phase separation driven by density-dependent movement: a novel mechanism for ecological patterns. Physics of life reviews, 19, pp.107-121. Siteur, K., Liu, Q.X., Rottschäfer, V., van der Heide, T., Rietkerk, M., Doelman, A., Boström, C. and van de Koppel, J., 2023. Phase-separation physics underlies new theory for the resilience of patchy ecosystems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(2), p.e2202683120.

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