Choosing our system

We first looked at "Regular pattern formation in real ecosystems" (Max Rietkerk and Johan van de Koppel, Trends in Ecology and Evolution Vol.23 No.3, 169-175 doi:10.1016/j.tree.2007.10.013). The main theoretical model developed in the paper is:

We reviewed studies from a wide range of ecosystems in which scale-dependent feedback is proposed to explain regular pattern formation. The mechanisms involved all correspond to Turing’s scale-dependent activator–inhibitor principle and only differ in the details.

The class was most interested in two models:

1. Savanna models (Figure 2C)
2. Ribbon forests (Figure 2F)

Our plan is to develop a model of Turing's scale-dependent activator-inhibitor principle, and match up to the above models.

How does the activator-inhibitor model work?