What causes fairy circles?

Similar to the effect of lush green thanks to runoff from roads or paths (in a dry climate). Interesting to read the hard science behind the answer.

https://phys.org/news/2022-10-secrets-namibia-fairy-circles-demystified.html

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interesting. i had seen something similar in the grass at one of the parks here, and i was curious what might have been happening there.

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Those are fairy rings and have a different cause.

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Cool, I’ve never heard of those fairy circles - what a remarkable landscape. Plants are amazing.

I love how these terms are used for different phenomena around the world. I’ve seen it used to describe circles of fungi, and here in California we also use it to describe rings of coast redwood trees.

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Wow! Plant competition! Helianthus pauciflorus roots exude a chemical toxin that prevents other plant species from growing, but the chemicals also inhibit the Prairie Sunflowers in the center of a colony, also creating a “fairy ring”

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The uniform growth of mycelium from a single point outwards.

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hmmm… i guess it’s possible what i saw could have been a fairy ring. i thought fairy rings were usually associated with places that had trees though, and although there were trees nearby, the spots seemed to be in an area that has been just grass for a while now.

Sounds as if your grass species, would be a similar story.

It is newly published research. Hot off the press. 20 Oct 2022
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1433831922000403?via%3Dihub

Those are not linked to trees, it’s just the way mycelium grows.

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