RT Journal Article
T1 The global biogeography and environmental drivers of fairy circles
A1 Guirado, Emilio
A1 Delgado Baquerizo, Manuel
A1 Benito, Blas M.
A1 Molina Pardo, José Luis
A1 Berdugo Vega, Miguel
A1 Martínez Valderrama, Jaime
A1 Maestre, Fernando T.
AB 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.
PB National Academy of Sciences
SN 0027-8424
YR 2023
FD 2023
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/121187
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/121187
LA eng
NO E. Guirado,M. Delgado-Baquerizo,B.M. Benito,J.L. Molina-Pardo,M. Berdugo,J. Martínez-Valderrama,& F.T. Maestre,  The global biogeography and environmental drivers of fairy circles, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 120 (40) e2304032120, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2304032120 (2023).
NO This research was funded by the European Research Council (BIODESERT project, Grant agreement 647038), Generalitat Valenciana (CIDEGENT/2018/041), and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (EUR2022-134048). M.D-B. acknowledges support from TED2021-130908B-C41/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/Unión Europea NextGenerationEU/PRTR and from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for the I + D + i project PID2020-115813RA-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. E.G. acknowledges the support by the Generalitat Valenciana and the European Social Fund (APOSTD/2021/188). M.B. is also supported by a Ramón y Cajal grant (RYC2021-031797-I).
NO European Commission
NO Generalitat Valenciana
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 23 dic 2025