Two types of fairy circles coexist in a vegetation–water model

Hou, Li-Feng; Gao, Shupeng; Sun, Gui‐Quan

doi:10.1007/s11071-022-08197-6

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…However, some locations in Chad or Kazakhstan were uncertain after conducting these analyses. The differences observed could be because these FC-like vegetation patterns could be transient, gradually disappearing over time and eventually transforming into uniform vegetation ( 35 ). In addition, we used Voronoi diagrams ( 36 ), an interpolation method based on Euclidean distance, which has been used to determine the hexagonal characteristic distribution of FC-like vegetation patterns ( SI Appendix , Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The global biogeography and environmental drivers of fairy circles

Guirado,

Delgado-Baquerizo,

Benito

et al. 2023

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Fairy circles (FCs) are regular vegetation patterns found in drylands of Namibia and Western Australia. It is virtually unknown whether they are also present in other regions of the world and which environmental factors determine their distribution. We conducted a global systematic survey and found FC-like vegetation patterns in 263 sites from 15 countries and three continents, including the Sahel, Madagascar, and Middle-West Asia. FC-like vegetation patterns are found in environments characterized by a unique combination of soil (including low nutrient levels and high sand content) and climatic (arid regions with high temperatures and high precipitation seasonality) conditions. In addition to these factors, the presence of specific biological elements (termite nests) in certain regions also plays a role in the presence of these patterns. Furthermore, areas with FC-like vegetation patterns also showed more stable temporal productivity patterns than those of surrounding areas. Our study presents a global atlas of FCs and provides unique insights into the ecology and biogeography of these fascinating vegetation patterns.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%