Rise and Fall of Periodic Patterns for a Generalized Klausmeier-Gray-Scott Model

In this paper we introduce a conceptual model for vegetation patterns that generalizes the Klausmeier model for semi-arid ecosystems on a sloped terrain (Klausmeier in Science 284:1826-1828, 1999). Our model not only incorporates downhill flow, but also linear or nonlinear diffusion for the water component.

To relate the model to observations and simulations in ecology, we first consider the onset of pattern formation through a Turing or a Turing-Hopf bifurcation. We perform a Ginzburg-Landau analysis to study the weakly nonlinear evolution of small amplitude patterns and we show that the Turing/Turing-Hopf bifurcation is supercritical under realistic circumstances.

In the second part we numerically construct Busse balloons to further follow the family of stable spatially periodic (vegetation) patterns. We find that destabilization (and thus desertification) can be caused by three different mechanisms: fold, Hopf and sideband instability, and show that the Hopf instability can no longer occur when the gradient of the domain is above a certain threshold. We encounter a number of intriguing phenomena, such as a 'Hopf dance' and a fine structure of sideband instabilities. Finally, we conclude that there exists no decisive qualitative difference between the Busse balloons for the model with standard diffusion and the Busse balloons for the model with nonlinear diffusion.