Self-organized spatial patterns are increasingly recognized for their contribution
to ecosystem functioning, in terms of enhanced productivity,
ecosystem stability, and species diversity in terrestrial as well as marine ecosystems.
Most studies on the impact of spatial self-organization have focused
on systems that exhibit regular patterns. However, there is an abundance of
patterns in many ecosystems which are not strictly regular. Understanding
of how these patterns are formed and how they affect ecosystem function is
crucial for the broad acceptance of self-organization as a keystone process
in ecological theory. Here, using transplantation experiments in salt marsh
ecosystems dominated by Scirpus mariqueter, we demonstrate that
scale-dependent feedback is driving irregular spatial pattern formation of
vegetation. Field observations and experiments have revealed that this selforganization
process affects a range of plant traits, including shoot-to-root
ratio, rhizome orientation, rhizome node number, and rhizome length, and
enhances vegetation productivity. Moreover, patchiness in self-organized
salt marsh vegetation can support a better microhabitat for macrobenthos,
promoting their total abundance and spatial heterogeneity of species richness.
Our results extend existing concepts of self-organization and its effects on productivity
and biodiversity to the spatial irregular patterns that are observed in
many systems. Our work also helps to link between the so-far largely unconnected
fields of self-organization theory and trait-based, functional ecology.