Evidence for scale-dependent root-antation feedback and its role in halting the spread of a pantropical shrub into an endemic sedge.

Vegetation pattern formation is a widespread phenomenon in resource-limited environments, but the driving mechanisms are largely unconfirmed empirically. Combining results of field studies and mathematical modeling, empirical evidence for a generic pattern-formation mechanism is demonstrated with the clonal shrub L. (hereafter ) on the Brazilian island of Trindade. The mechanism is associated with water conduction by laterally spread roots and root augmentation as the shoot grows-a crucial element in the positive feedback loop that drives spatial patterning. Assuming precipitation-dependent root-shoot relations, the model accounts for the major vegetation landscapes on Trindade Island, substantiating lateral root augmentation as the driving mechanism of patterning. expands into surrounding communities dominated by the Trindade endemic, Hemsl. (hereafter ). It appears to do so by decreasing the water potential in soils below through its dense lateral roots, leaving behind a patchy -only landscape. We use this system to highlight a novel form of invasion, likely to apply to many other systems where the invasive species is pattern-forming. Depending on the level of water stress, the invasion can take two distinct forms: (i) a complete invasion at low stress that culminates in a patchy -only landscape through a spot-replication process, and (ii) an incomplete invasion at high stress that begins but does not spread, forming isolated spots of fixed size, surrounded by bare-soil halos, in an otherwise uniform grassland. Thus, drier climates may act selectively on pattern-forming invasive species, imposing incomplete invasion and reducing the negative effects on native species.