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Updated: May 30, 2025

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Can spatial self-organization inhibit evolutionary adaptation?

B K Bera1, O Tzuk2, J J R Bennett1,3

  • 1The Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research, BIDR, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion 8499000, Israel.

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|January 28, 2025
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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Spatial patterning in vegetation can prevent plants from evolving to be less productive during droughts. This ecological strategy enhances ecosystem resilience without sacrificing agricultural output.

Keywords:
drylandsevolutionary adaptationhomeostasismathematical modellingtrade-offvegetation pattern formation

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Theoretical Ecology

Background:

  • Plants adapt to drought via slow evolutionary changes, increasing resilience but reducing productivity.
  • Plants also exhibit rapid spatial self-organization (vegetation patterning) influencing water availability and survival.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Investigate how vegetation spatial patterning interacts with evolutionary adaptation to drought.
  • Determine if patterning can inhibit maladaptive evolution without compromising ecosystem resilience.

Main Methods:

  • Integrated adaptive dynamics and vegetation pattern-formation theories.
  • Modeled plant responses to decreasing precipitation under different spatial conditions.

Main Results:

  • Vegetation patterning inhibits evolution towards less productive, stress-tolerant species across a range of precipitation levels.
  • Patterning increases ecosystem resilience to water stress through mechanisms like patch thinning and dilution.
  • Spatial heterogeneity accelerates patterning and induces evolutionary homeostasis earlier, mitigating productivity losses.

Conclusions:

  • Vegetation spatial patterning can achieve evolutionary homeostasis, maintaining productivity and resilience under drought.
  • This ecological feedback mechanism offers a strategy to mitigate negative impacts of climate change on plant communities and agriculture.
  • Results contribute to understanding evolutionary retardation in ecological contexts.