Neighborhood effects on turning points in dryland ecosystem functioning (CONTIGUOUS)

The main objective of this support project is to gain insight on the importance of spatial context on the occurrence of turning points in dryland ecosystem functioning. We aim at addressing the following questions:

1. Is there a contagion effect insofar that areas next to turning point patches are more likely to experience turning points in subsequent years?

2. To what extent does land cover type and the environment (e.g., soil type) influence this contagion effect?

3. Can spatial autocorrelation between pixels be used to enhance the prediction of when and where turning points occur?