Fig. 6.

Pattern-forming feedbacks. A schematic illustration showing the different feedback mechanisms in the Namibian (A) and in the Australian (B) FC ecosystems that still lead to the same nonuniform instability characterized by the growth-rate curve shown in Fig. 4A, Inset (7). The feedbacks differ in the mechanism of water transport, soil–water diffusion in the aeolian sand of Namibia, induced by local water uptake vs. overland-water flow on the hard soil layer in Australia, induced by differential infiltration. The different mechanisms lead to different soil–water distributions, antiphase with the biomass distribution (Namibia) and in-phase with it (Australia), as illustrated in the bottom part of the figure.