Discovery of fairy circles in Australia supports self-organization theory

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 113; no. 13; pp. 3551 - 3556
• Main Authors: Getzin, Stephan, Yizhaq, Hezi, Bell, Bronwyn, Erickson, Todd E., Postle, Anthony C., Katra, Itzhak, Tzuk, Omer, Zelnik, Yuval R., Wiegand, Kerstin, Wiegand, Thorsten, Meron, Ehud
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 29.03.2016; National Acad Sciences
• Subjects: Arid zones; Biological Sciences; Biomass; Feedback, Physiological; Fieldwork; Grassland; Grasslands; Infiltration rate; Isoptera; Models, Biological; Moisture content; Namibia; Physical Sciences; Plant Development; Poaceae - growth & development; Rain; Remote sensing; Runoff; Soil water; Spatial analysis; Vegetation; Vegetation patterns; Western Australia; Western Australia; Namibia; Australia; Triodia grass; vegetation gap; drylands; Turing instability; spatial pattern

Vegetation gap patterns in arid grasslands, such as the “fairy circles” of Namibia, are one of nature’s greatest mysteries and subject to a lively debate on their origin. They are characterized by small-scale hexagonal ordering of circular bare-soil gaps that persists uniformly in the landscape scal...