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A Lévy expansion strategy optimizes early dune building by beach grasses
Valérie C Reijers1, Koen Siteur2,3, Selwyn Hoeks4,5
1Department of Aquatic Ecology & Environmental Biology, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University, Faculty of Science, Heyendaalseweg 135, Nijmegen, AJ, 6525, The Netherlands. v.reijers@science.ru.nl.
Nature Communications
|June 16, 2019
Summary
Plants use heavy-tailed random walks, like Lévy-type movement, to self-organize and form landscapes. This strategy optimizes sand trapping for dune-building grasses, aiding landscape construction and restoration.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Biogeomorphology
- Mathematical Biology
Background:
- Random walk models are widely used for optimization but rarely applied to plant clonal expansion.
- Previous studies focused on mobile organisms' search optimization using random walks.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of heavy-tailed random walks in plant self-organization and landscape formation.
- To determine if plant clonal expansion strategies influence biogeomorphic processes.
Main Methods:
- Cross-Atlantic surveys of beach grasses.
- Spatially explicit modeling.
- Field experiments.
Main Results:
- Congeneric beach grasses exhibit distinct heavy-tailed clonal expansion strategies.
- A Lévy-type expansion strategy in dune-building grasses creates a patchy clonal network.
- This network optimizes sand trapping efficiency, contributing to dune formation.
Conclusions:
- Plants, specifically dune grasses, utilize Lévy-like movement for clonal expansion and landscape shaping.
- Species-specific expansion strategies are crucial for biogeomorphic landscape formation.
- Understanding these mechanisms can guide landscape construction and restoration efforts.
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