In harsh environments, organisms may self-organize into spatially patterned systems in various ways. So far, studies of ecosystem spatial self-organization have primarily focused on apparent orders reflected by regular patterns. However, self-organized ecosystems may also have cryptic orders that can be unveiled only through certain quantitative analyses. Here we show that disordered hyperuniformity as a striking class of hidden orders can exist in spatially self-organized vegetation landscapes. By analyzing the high-resolution remotely sensed images across the American drylands, we demonstrate that it is not uncommon to find disordered hyperuniform vegetation states characterized by suppressed density fluctuations at long range. Such long-range hyperuniformity has been documented in a wide range of microscopic systems. Our finding contributes to expanding this domain to accommodate natural landscape ecological systems. We use theoretical modeling to propose that disordered hyperuniform vegetation patterning can arise from three generalized mechanisms prevalent in dryland ecosystems, including (1) critical absorbing states driven by an ecological legacy effect, (2) scale-dependent feedbacks driven by plant-plant facilitation and competition, and (3) density-dependent aggregation driven by plant-sediment feedbacks. Our modeling results also show that disordered hyperuniform patterns can help ecosystems cope with arid conditions with enhanced functioning of soil moisture acquisition. However, this advantage may come at the cost of slower recovery of ecosystem structure upon perturbations. Our work highlights that disordered hyperuniformity as a distinguishable but underexplored ecosystem self-organization state merits systematic studies to better understand its underlying mechanisms, functioning, and resilience.

翻译：在恶劣环境中，生物体可能以多种方式自组织形成空间斑图化系统。目前关于生态系统空间自组织的研究主要聚焦于规则斑图所反映的表观有序性。然而，自组织生态系统也可能存在仅能通过特定定量分析才能揭示的隐性有序性。本文证明，无序超均匀性作为一种引人注目的隐性有序类别，可能存在于空间自组织的植被景观中。通过分析美国旱地高分辨率遥感影像，我们证实存在以长程密度涨落抑制为特征的无序超均匀植被状态并不罕见。这种长程超均匀性已在多种微观系统中被记录。本发现有助于将该领域扩展至自然景观生态系统。我们通过理论建模提出，旱地生态系统中普遍存在的三种广义机制可催生无序超均匀植被格局，包括：(1)生态遗留效应驱动的临界吸收态，(2)植物间互惠与竞争驱动的尺度依赖性反馈，以及(3)植物-沉积物反馈驱动的密度依赖性聚集。建模结果同时显示，无序超均匀斑图可通过增强土壤水分获取功能帮助生态系统应对干旱条件。但这种优势可能以生态系统结构在扰动后恢复速度减缓为代价。本研究强调，无序超均匀性作为一种可识别但尚未充分探索的生态系统自组织状态，值得系统研究以更好理解其潜在机制、功能与恢复力。