Dhe big question about the origin of the wondrous fairy circles in the desert regions of Namibia seems to have finally been answered. For a long time, the reason for the vegetation-free, circular bald spots in the middle of grassy landscapes surrounded by a ring of vigorously grown grass was unclear and surrounded by many theories. A research team led by the ecologist Stephan Getzin from the University of Göttingen has now been able to trace their development back to the fact that the plants of the Stipagrostis genus actively manage the existing water resources. The researchers came to an amazing conclusion: that plants organize themselves intelligently.
As rare as the rain is in the desert regions of southern Africa, it still causes a fragile grassy landscape to grow, at least in the rainy season, in which the circles form on the ground. During their three-year study from 2020 to 2022, the scientists examined an area stretching over a thousand kilometers in the Namib Desert. There they observe that in the fairy circles the few grasses that were able to establish themselves at all die off immediately, while the flora outside the border grasses thrives successfully. According to Getzin, it was also found that the length ratio of root to shoot is significantly higher in the fairy circle than outside.
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