Interplay between Turing mechanisms can increase pattern diversity.

We use the context of dryland vegetation to study a general problem of complex pattern-forming systems: multiple pattern-forming instabilities that are driven by distinct mechanisms but share the same spectral properties. We find that the co-occurrence of two Turing instabilities when the driving mechanisms counteract each other in some region of the parameter space results in the growth of a single mode rather than two interacting modes. The interplay between the two mechanisms compensates for the simpler dynamics of a single mode by inducing a wider variety of patterns, which implies higher biodiversity in dryland ecosystems.