Effects of global warming on pattern dynamics of vegetation: Wuwei in China as a case

Climate change has a great influence on the behavior of vegetation system in arid and semi-arid regions, yet the mechanisms are far from being well understood, especially on the pattern dynamics of vegetation. As a result, we pose a mathematical model in the form of reaction-diffusion equations to reveal the effects of global warming on the vegetation patterns. Based on mathematical analysis and numerical simulations, we obtain the typical distributions of vegetation which is consistent with the results in Wuwei, China. It was found that, if the temperature increases 1.5 or more degrees, then the isolation of the vegetation pattern increases and thus desertification may emerge. Meanwhile, we show that the vegetation biomass will increase as precipitation increases, but slow down with increased temperature. We also show the desertification degree as a function of precipitation. Our results may suggest that temperature and precipitation are key factors of climatic factors for vegetation formation.