Abstract
Anthropogenic activities and climate change are imposing an unprecedented pressure on drylands, increasing their vulnerability to desertification. The spatial organization of the sparse vegetation cover is fundamental for the healthy function of the system, and disturbances can trigger cascading feedbacks leading to catastrophic system collapse. Here we discuss some of the latest research aiming at understanding abrupt landscape transitions and possible non-reversible changes, as well as emerging research on the identification of early warning indicators of abrupt transitions to desert states. Robust indicators should take into account temporal system dynamics characteristics, vegetation organization/patch size distribution, functional connectivity measures and human intervention effects.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 67-72 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Current Opinion in Environmental Science and Health |
Volume | 5 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Oct 2018 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2018 Elsevier B.V.
Funding
We acknowledge support from an International Visiting Fellowship from the University of Newcastle awarded to Saskia Keesstra and the COST Action ES1306 (Connecting European Connectivity research). P. Saco acknowledges support from the Australian Research Council through grants FT140100610 and DP140104178. Mariano Moreno-de las Heras is beneficiary of a Juan de la Cierva fellowship (IJCI-2015-26463) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness. We acknowledge support from an International Visiting Fellowship from the University of Newcastle awarded to Saskia Keesstra and the COST Action ES1306 (Connecting European Connectivity research). P. Saco acknowledges support from the Australian Research Council through grants FT140100610 and DP140104178 . Mariano Moreno-de las Heras is beneficiary of a Juan de la Cierva fellowship ( IJCI-2015-26463 ) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness .
Funders | Funder number |
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COST Action ES1306 | |
Saskia Keesstra | |
Newcastle University | |
European Cooperation in Science and Technology | ES1306 |
Australian Research Council | DP140104178, IJCI-2015-26463, FT140100610 |
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry |
Keywords
- Desertification
- Drylands
- Early warning
- Thresholds
- Vegetation patterns