Circular, barren patches of land, called "fairy circles," aren't only found in Namibia. Now, scientists have found these mysterious circles in Australia as well.
The researchers found the "fairy circles" after an Australian colleague took a photo of an aerial shot of the region surrounding the town of Newman. The colleague sent the photo to the researchers, who identified plant patterns that looked a bit like the circles that can also be found in Southern Africa.
There are several theories as to how these barren circles form. Some believe that they're due to termites or ants who eat the roots of the grass, and thus create a circular pattern in the dirt. Other scientists believe that toxic carbon monoxide gas rises up from the interior of our planet and then kills the vegetation where it "bubbles" up. A third theory states that the conditions simply occur on their own under certain conditions.
It's possible that the amount of water that's available at the transition between desert and grassland is simply not enough for continuous vegetation cover. Because of this, it's likely that individual plants compete with one another for the water. This, in turn, could cause the "holes" seen in Namibia.
With that said, this is the first time that these circles have been spotted in a location outside of Africa. This could mean that researchers may be able to pin down the reason for these circles by studying them in both locations and seeing what they might have in common.
"The interesting thing about fairy circles is that they are spread with great regularity and homogeneity, even over vast areas, but they only occur within a narrow rainfall belt," Stephan Getzin from UFZ, a fairy circle expert, said.
Researchers have actually found new evidence when it comes to hope these circles are actually created. In Australia, there are no termite or ant nests in the circles. This means that it's likely that the circles aren't created by termites.
So what are the circles created by? Researchers have found that the dominant grasses in both Australia and Africa are the Triodia genus. These grasses also form typical drought patterns such as stripes, labyrinths or spot patterns. This could mean that the lack of water could be causing the plants to compete and form the circles.
The findings reveal a bit more about these fairy circles, which could allow researchers to finally get to the bottom of what causes them.
The findings are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
