Rich Spatiotemporal Dynamics of a Vegetation Model with Noise and Periodic Forcing

Abstract

The growth of vegetation is undeniably subject to random fluctuations arising from environmental variability and internal effects due to periodic forcing. To address these issues, we investigated a spatial version of a vegetation model including seasonal rainfall, noise, and diffusion. By numerical simulations, we found that noise can induce the pattern transition from stationary pattern to other patterns. More specifically, when noise intensity is small, patch invasion is induced. As noise intensity further increases, chaotic patterns emerge. For the system with noise and seasonal rainfall, it exhibits frequency-locking phenomena. Patterns transition may be a warning signal for the onset of desertification and thus the obtained results may provide some measures to protect vegetation, such as reducing random factors or changing irrigation on vegetation.