Regensburg 2019 – scientific programme

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SYPN: Symposium Patterns in Nature: Origins, Universality, Functions

SYPN 1: Patterns in Nature: Origins, Universality, Functions

SYPN 1.5: Invited Talk

Monday, April 1, 2019, 17:15–17:45, H1

Front instabilities can reverse desertification — •Ehud Meron^1,3, Cristian Fernandez-Oto², and Omer Tzuk³ — ¹Department of Solar Energy and Environmental Physics, BIDR, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 8499000, Israel — ²Complex Systems Group, Facultad de Ingenieria y Ciencias Aplicadas, Universidad de los Andes, Santiago, Chile — ³Physics Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel

Degradation processes in living systems often take place gradually by front propagation. An important context of such processes is loss of biological productivity in drylands or desertification. Using a dryland-vegetation model, we analyze the stability and dynamics of desertification fronts, identify linear and nonlinear front instabilities, and highlight the significance of these instabilities in inducing self-recovery. The results are based on the derivation and analysis of a universal amplitude equation for pattern-forming living systems for which nonuniform instabilities cannot emerge from the non-viable (zero) state. The results may therefore be applicable to other contexts of animate matter where degradation processes occur by front propagation.