Fairy Circle (IMAGE)
Caption
Namibian fairy circles (above) -- round patches of desert sand, 2 to 35 meters (6.5 to 114 feet) in diameter, surrounded by rings of tall grass -- may result from two mechanisms: termite activity and plant self-organization. Termites remove plants to create the bare discs, which increases the moisture content of the soil within the circles. This enables surrounding plants to thrive, producing the characteristic tall rings of grass. The landscape-wide hexagonal layout emerges from territorial warfare between neighboring termite colonies.
Credit
Photo by Jen Guyton, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
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