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Approaches to Modelling Ecogeomorphic Systems

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Patterns of Land Degradation in Drylands

Abstract

Drivers of land degradation often co-occur and their effects are often non-additive because of internal system feedbacks. Therefore, to understand how drivers of land degradation alter ecogeomorphic patterns and processes, novel tools are required. In this chapter we explore different modelling approaches that have been developed to simulate pattern formation, and ecological and geomorphic processes. These modelling approaches reflect some of the best available tools at present, but notably, they tend to simulate only one or at best two components of the ecogeomorphic system. The chapter culminates with a discussion of these different modelling approaches and how they provide a foundation upon which to develop much needed ecogeomorphic modelling tools.

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Acknowledgments

This chapter is a contribution to the book Patterns of Land Degradation in Drylands: Understanding Self-Organised Ecogeomorphic Systems, which is the outcome of an ESF-funded Exploratory Workshop – “Self-organized ecogeomorphic systems: confronting models with data for land degradation in drylands” – which was held in Potsdam, Germany, 7–10 June 2010. The research on gap dynamics was supported by grants from the U. S. Army ERDC – Construction Engineering Research Laboratory to New Mexico State University, USDA-ARS and Sevilleta LTER. The development of Mahleran was funded by NERC grant GR3/12754, NSF grants DEB 00-80412 to Jornada LTER and DEB 02-17774 to Sevilleta LTER and support from The University of Sheffield, The Worshipful Company of Farmers, the Royal Society Dudley Stamp Memorial Fund and Rothamsted Research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Hazards, Risk and Resilience, Department of Geography, Durham University, Science Laboratories, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK

    Laura Turnbull

  2. School of Biology and Environment Science, Agriculture & Food Science Centre, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland

    Tamara Hochstrasser

  3. Department of Geosciences, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, 14473, Potsdam, Germany

    Mareike Wieczorek

  4. Department of Geography, King’s College London, WC2R 2LS, London, UK

    Andreas Baas

  5. Department of Geography, University of Durham, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK

    John Wainwright

  6. Dipartimento di Idraulica, Trasporti ed Infrastrutture Civili, University of Turin, 10129, Torino, Italy

    Stefania Scarsoglio

  7. Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195, Berlin, Germany

    Britta Tietjen

  8. Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation, University of Potsdam, 14469, Potsdam, Germany

    Florian Jeltsch

  9. Institute of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Potsdam, 14476, Potsdam, Germany

    Eva Nora Mueller

Authors
  1. Laura Turnbull
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  2. Tamara Hochstrasser
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  3. Mareike Wieczorek
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  4. Andreas Baas
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  5. John Wainwright
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  6. Stefania Scarsoglio
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  7. Britta Tietjen
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  8. Florian Jeltsch
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  9. Eva Nora Mueller
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laura Turnbull .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

    Eva Nora Mueller

  2. Department of Geography, University of Durham, Durham, United Kingdom

    John Wainwright

  3. Sheffield Centre for International Drylands Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom

    Anthony J. Parsons

  4. Department of Geography Science Laboratories, Durham University Inst. of Hazards, Risk and Resilienc, Durham, United Kingdom

    Laura Turnbull

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Turnbull, L. et al. (2014). Approaches to Modelling Ecogeomorphic Systems. In: Mueller, E., Wainwright, J., Parsons, A., Turnbull, L. (eds) Patterns of Land Degradation in Drylands. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5727-1_7

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