Data from: Termite mounds can increase the robustness of dryland ecosystems to climatic change

Self-organized spatial vegetation patterning is widespread and has been described using models of scale-dependent feedback between plants and water on homogeneous substrates. As rainfall decreases, these models yield a characteristic sequence of patterns with increasingly sparse vegetation, followed by sudden collapse to desert. Thus, the final, spot-like pattern may provide early warning for such catastrophic shifts. In many arid ecosystems, however, termite nests impart substrate heterogeneity by altering soil properties, thereby enhancing plant growth. We show that termite-induced heterogeneity interacts with scale-dependent feedbacks to produce vegetation patterns at different spatial grains. Although the coarse-grained patterning resembles that created by scale-dependent feedback alone, it does not indicate imminent desertification. Rather, mound-field landscapes are more robust to aridity, suggesting that termites may help stabilize ecosystems under global change.自组织空间植被格局（Self-organized spatial vegetation patterning）广泛分布，学界已通过均质基质上植物与水分间的尺度依赖反馈（scale-dependent feedback）模型对其开展相关描述。随着降雨量减少，这类模型会呈现出植被愈发稀疏的特征性格局序列，最终突发崩塌并演变为荒漠。因此，最终形成的斑点状格局，可作为这类灾难性生态转变的早期预警信号。然而在诸多干旱生态系统中，白蚁丘会通过改变土壤性质赋予基质异质性，进而促进植物生长。本研究表明，白蚁诱导产生的异质性与尺度依赖反馈相互作用，可在不同空间粒度（spatial grains）下形成植被格局。尽管这种粗粒度格局看似仅由尺度依赖反馈所塑造，但它并不代表即将发生荒漠化。实则，白蚁丘诱导的异质性可提升生态系统对干旱的耐受性，这意味着在全球变化背景下，白蚁或有助于稳定生态系统。