Exper!ence it
Namibia Tok Tokkie Hiking Trails: shelter and mysterious fairy circles
The Namib desert is covered with regular patterns of bare circles whose origin is fiercely debated by researchers – but it now seems both leading explanations may be right.
One camp claims the empty patches, known as fairy circles, are created by termites under the soil that clear vegetation in the area around their nests. By making the soil porous, the argument goes, they establish permanent reservoirs of rainwater 50 centimetres below the surface, which sustains them and the surrounding ecosystem.
An alternative idea is that the circles are explained by plants competing for water. Plants help their nearest neighbours by creating shade and maintaining water on the soil’s surface, but hinder those further away by growing long roots that extract water from the soil.
Namibia Tok Tokkie Hiking Trails: shelter and mysterious fairy circles
The Namib desert is covered with regular patterns of bare circles whose origin is fiercely debated by researchers – but it now seems both leading explanations may be right.
One camp claims the empty patches, known as fairy circles, are created by termites under the soil that clear vegetation in the area around their nests. By making the soil porous, the argument goes, they establish permanent reservoirs of rainwater 50 centimetres below the surface, which sustains them and the surrounding ecosystem.
An alternative idea is that the circles are explained by plants competing for water. Plants help their nearest neighbours by creating shade and maintaining water on the soil’s surface, but hinder those further away by growing long roots that extract water from the soil.