Vegetation dynamics induced by phreatophyte–aquifer interactions

The dynamics of phreatophyte vegetation are strongly coupled to those of the shallow phreatic aquifers from which phreatophytes extract water. Vegetation is able to influence the depth of the water table, which, in turn, can induce stress in vegetation. These interactions are likely to affect the composition and structure of phreatophyte plant communities, as well as their successional dynamics. Despite the environmental and economical value of many wetland plant ecosystems around the world, the impact of vegetation–water table interactions on ecosystem succession and interspecies competition in phreatophyte plant communities remains poorly understood. This study develops a minimalistic modelling framework to investigate the dynamics of two phreatophyte species, and their interactions with the water table. In spite of its simplicity, the model exhibits a remarkable variety of dynamical behaviors, especially when the water table depth is forced by external drivers. It is shown that, even when one of the two species is dominant with respect to the other, these two species can coexist showing periodic, quasi-periodic, and chaotic dynamics. Moreover, in the presence of a random environmental forcing, noise-induced coexistence may emerge.