The Sand Fairy
![The Sand Fairy](https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8015/7276268844_3614d570cb.jpg)
The sand termites not only destroy plants within a fairy circle, but also dig tunnels and burrows, which make the soil airy and porous. That allows rainwater to seep down to cooler depths, where it's protected from evaporating in the sun. So the termites' work, in the form of eating plant roots and digging tunnels, allows water to be stored in the soil throughout the year.
The strange saga of the fairy circles got even stranger last year. That's when Walter Tschinkel, a biologist at Florida State University in Tallahassee, analyzed 4 years of satellite images of the formations in Namibia's NamibRand Nature Reserve. Tschinkel had been intrigued by the circles since first encountering them on a vacation to Africa in 2005. The images revealed that some of the formations arose and others vanished over the 4-year period—the first evidence that they were somehow "alive.
![The Sand Fairy](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XwHpFKMpEU4/hqdefault.jpg)
Throughout Fairytale Forest, vital pieces of treasured tales have gone missing! Unless they turn up soon, the stories will be lost forever! It's time to call in Gordon Gumshoe, Fairy Tale Detective. Join in the fun as Gordon Gumshoe navigates the caper of a lifetime - complete with lots of audience participation, nefarious villains, all your favorite fairy tale characters, and a surprise ending. Gordon depends upon his audience of junior detectives to point out clues, deliver messages, and maybe even save the day.
![The Sand Fairy](http://www.doc.govt.nz/pagefiles/5235/fairy-tern-chick-565.jpg)
But what kills plants on the inside of the circle actually promotes plant growth around the edges. The climate in fairy circle territory is too dry to sustain plants year-round. One would expect only short-lived plants to pop up during the brief rainy season. If they did, much of the water in the soil would escape into the atmosphere through transpiration : the release of water vapor through pore-like openings in a plant's leaves, stems, and flowers.
Now, University of Hamburg biologist Norbert Juergens has found that the circles are made by sand termites, which eat underground grass roots. Although that leaves the inner circle barren, it also helps the soil hold water—because there are no plants to take up the water and release it into the air. Through the long dry season, the water sustains both the termites and the grasses on the circle’s perimeter.
![The Sand Fairy](http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/0/4439/508445-gaara01.jpg)
All in all, Juergens found 10 to 20 times more biodiversity at fairy circles than in the surrounding desert. "These tiny termites have managed to turn rainfall as little as 50 millimeters per year into a continuous, permanently livable ecosystem," he says. "Identification of this termite as opposed to other candidates behind fairy circles is part of the story, but the more interesting story is that this insect evolved to be a masterpiece of ecosystem engineering."
![The Sand Fairy](http://cdn-wac.emirates247.com/polopoly_fs/1.406273.1309939557!/image/2471966236.jpg)
Termites have long been a suspect in the fairy circle mystery, but Juergens' team is the first to show conclusive evidence that the insects really do create them. They did this by closely examining hundreds of fairy circles up and down 1,200 miles of desert, and found that sand termites were the only organism present in every single location. What's more, close observation revealed that the termites eat plant roots inside the circle, preventing anything from growing there.
![The Sand Fairy](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Veq-jtyg-F0/hqdefault.jpg)
Tschinkel and others may have missed these "extremely clandestine" insects, which seem to "swim" through the sand, Juergens says, leaving only very fine tunnels. Unlike some other termite species, they do not build complex underground galleries, have no aboveground nest, and emerge only occasionally at night. Other researchers could easily overlook the insects' fine tunnels by digging too deeply or forcefully, says Juergens, who focused his efforts a few centimeters to tens of centimeters beneath the surface.
![The Sand Fairy](http://blog.creativeplaycentral.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Picture-172-kinetic-sand-fairy-land.jpg)
Tschinkel agrees. "Juergens has made the common scientific error of confusing correlation—even very strong correlation—with causation," he says. "If Juergens claims termites are killing the grass, he's got to show that they're actually attacking living plants. That's not easy to do, and he didn't do it."
![The Sand Fairy](http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs42/f/2009/086/5/7/Sand_Fairy_by_ZigEnfruke.jpg)
You may want to check out the April 5, 2013, Science Update Podcast to hear further information about this Science Update and the other programs for that week. This podcast's topics include: Scientists attempt to bring back an extinct frog, mummies showing signs of heart disease make researchers rethink assumptions about lifestyle and diet, the mysterious death zone within African “fairy circles” explained, and a miniature laboratory under the skin monitors blood chemistry.
![The Sand Fairy](http://moonsaroundtheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/MuiNe_Vietnam_Dunes_September_03_9.jpg)
The “Shark Tooth Fairy,” as he’s known, has combed The Sands beach in Port Royal since he was a child, took his own kids shark tooth hunting on spoil banks up and down the South Carolina coast and makes a living off the fossils he finds on scuba-diving expeditions. Then, he retires to his home on the water off Coosaw Island.
That water, in turn, nourishes grasses that grow around the edges of the fairy circle—grasses that couldn't survive year-round without the stored water. And those grasses, in turn, attract other insects and small mammals that wouldn't otherwise have a reason to forage in such a desolate place. So by destroying one type of plant life, the termites actually make it possible for many other kinds of life to thrive. The research shows that just one species can have a big impact on any ecosystem.
"My view is that fairy circles have little, if anything, to do with termites," agrees Michael Cramer, a plant ecophysiologist at the University of Cape Town. He now has a manuscript in review proposing that fairy circles are the product of natural vegetation patterns resulting from competition for scarce resources. "The only way for this question to be properly answered," he says, "is with more thorough investigations and focused experiments."