Interaction network based early-warning indicators of vegetation transitions

Giulio Tirabassi, Jan Viebahn, V. Dakos, Hendrik Dijkstra, C. Masoller, Max Rietkerk, Stefan Dekker

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Changes in vegetation patterns in semi-arid regions can precede the abrupt transition to bare soil. Here, complex network techniques are used to develop novel early-warning indicators for these desertification transitions. These indicators are applied to results from a local positive feedback vegetation model and are compared to classical indicators, such as the autocorrelation and variance of biomass time series. A quantitative measure is also introduced to evaluate the quality of the early-warning indicators. Based on this measure, the network-based indicators are superior to the classical ones, being more sensitive to the presence of the transition point.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)148–157
Number of pages10
JournalEcological Complexity
Volume19
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014

Keywords

  • Desertification
  • Early-warning indicators
  • Networks
  • Catastrophic transitions

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