1. Self-organized criticality in intertidal microphytobenthos patch patterns
- Author
-
Nicolas Spilmont, Laurent Seuront, Laboratoire d’Océanologie et de Géosciences (LOG) - UMR 8187 (LOG), and Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale (ULCO)-Université de Lille-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD [France-Nord])
- Subjects
Statistics and Probability ,Shore ,geography ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,Intertidal zone ,Sampling (statistics) ,Multifractal system ,Intertidal ecology ,Condensed Matter Physics ,Self-organized criticality ,Fractal ,Benthic zone ,[SDE]Environmental Sciences ,Biological system ,Geology - Abstract
A 2D distribution of microphytobenthic biomass is determined from a superficial sediment sampling on an exposed sandy shore. The distribution undergoes a very structured pattern, displaying a few dense patches over a wide range of low density patches. We perform a statistical analysis of this 2D patterns using statistical tools developed in the field of fractal theory. It is shown that the patch pattern belongs to fractal and multifractal structures, and exhibits specific power-law in the probability space, involving the appearance of a self-organized critical state. To our knowledge, this is the first experimental study of self-organized criticality in benthic ecology. Some theoretical consequences are outlined, and their practical applications to improve our understanding of intertidal ecosystems structures and functions are discussed.
- Published
- 2002