Arid
DOI10.1016/j.ecocom.2015.02.001
Namibian fairy circles and epithelial cells share emergent geometric order
Zhang, Haozhe1; Sinclair, Robert2
通讯作者Sinclair, Robert
来源期刊ECOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY
ISSN1476-945X
EISSN1476-9840
出版年2015
卷号22页码:32-35
英文摘要

Fairy circles are enigmatic features of the Namib desert landscape. They are large, almost perfectly circular patches of barren soil in sparse grassland. Although a matter of continuing debate, we make no attempt to explain their origin. The focus of our approach is a statistical analysis of the spatial patterns. These are easily accessible via aerial and satellite imagery. Observations over extended periods of time have revealed that they have a life-cycle of birth, growth and death. It has also been known for some time that the fairy circles are not randomly distributed. Our novel finding is that the connectivity patterns of fairy circles and metazoan epithelial cells are statistically indistinguishable, while remaining clearly distinct from other commonly observed polygonal patternings. This result identifies an analogy between the microscopic world of epithelial cells and the macroscopic realm of the Namib, suggesting that approaches developed specifically for the analysis of microscopic structures may extend into ecologically relevant, macroscopic dimensions. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).


英文关键词Fairy circles Epithelial topology Ecological topology Spatial analysis Ecological scaling
类型Article
语种英语
国家USA ; Japan
收录类别SCI-E
WOS记录号WOS:000356196900004
WOS关键词TERRITORY SIZE ; FIRE ANTS ; PATTERN ; HYPOTHESES ; ORIGIN ; DESERT ; SCALE ; SHAPE
WOS类目Ecology
WOS研究方向Environmental Sciences & Ecology
资源类型期刊论文
条目标识符http://119.78.100.177/qdio/handle/2XILL650/186763
作者单位1.Iowa State Univ, Dept Stat, Ames, IA 50011 USA;
2.Okinawa Inst Sci & Technol Grad Univ, Math Biol Unit, Onna, Okinawa 9040495, Japan
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Zhang, Haozhe,Sinclair, Robert. Namibian fairy circles and epithelial cells share emergent geometric order[J],2015,22:32-35.
APA Zhang, Haozhe,&Sinclair, Robert.(2015).Namibian fairy circles and epithelial cells share emergent geometric order.ECOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY,22,32-35.
MLA Zhang, Haozhe,et al."Namibian fairy circles and epithelial cells share emergent geometric order".ECOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY 22(2015):32-35.
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