title: Localized vegetation patches: a self-organized response to resource scarcity.
abstract: We show that spatial self-organization allows vegetation to survive greater resource limitation. Isolated vegetation patches observed in nutrient-poor territories of South America and West Africa are interpreted as localized structures arising from the bistability between the bare state and the patchy vegetation state.
authors.affiliation: Faculté des Sciences, Code Postal 231, Université Libre de Bruxelles, B-1050 Bruxelles, Belgium.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Lejeune
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tlidi
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Couteron
mesh_terms: D000354:Africa, Western; D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D017753:Ecosystem; D004777:Environment; D008954:Models, Biological; D063245:Plant Development; D013020:South America