title: Plant clonal morphologies and spatial patterns as self-organized responses to resource-limited environments.
abstract: We propose here to interpret and model peculiar plant morphologies (cushions and tussocks) observed in the Andean Altiplano as localized structures. Such structures resulting in a patchy, aperiodic aspect of the vegetation cover are hypothesized to self-organize thanks to the interplay between facilitation and competition processes occurring at the scale of basic plant components biologically referred to as 'ramets'. (Ramets are often of clonal origin.) To verify this interpretation, we applied a simple, fairly generic model (one integro-differential equation) emphasizing via Gaussian kernels non-local facilitative and competitive feedbacks of the vegetation biomass density on its own dynamics. We show that under realistic assumptions and parameter values relating to ramet scale, the model can reproduce some macroscopic features of the observed systems of patches and predict values for the inter-patch distance that match the distances encountered in the reference area (Sajama National Park in Bolivia). Prediction of the model can be confronted in the future with data on vegetation patterns along environmental gradients so as to anticipate the possible effect of global change on those vegetation systems experiencing constraining environmental conditions.
authors.affiliation: IRD, UMR AMAP, c/o Cirad, 34000 Montpellier, France pierre.couteron@ird.fr.
authors.forename: P
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4627-1696
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Couteron
authors.affiliation: IRD, UMR AMAP, c/o Cirad, 34000 Montpellier, France Universidad Major de San Andrés, La Paz, Bolivia.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Anthelme
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física, FCFM, Universidad de Chile, Avenida Blanco Encalada 2008, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Clerc
authors.affiliation: Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Ingeniería y Ciencias Aplicadas, Monseñor Alvaro del Portillo 12.455, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Escaff
authors.affiliation: Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), CP 231, Campus Plaine, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fernandez-Oto
authors.affiliation: Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), CP 231, Campus Plaine, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tlidi
keywords: Andes; intraspecific interactions; localized structures; morphogenesis; plant architecture; symmetry-breaking instability