Indigenous knowledge leads scientists to reveal 'fairy circles', termites linked

As a child, Gladys Bidu loved going out on country with her elders.

They taught her about linyji — bare circles of red earth rimmed by tall grass, regularly spaced across the arid desert grasslands found on her home Martu country.

But beyond the Pilbara, the bare patches were dubbed "fairy circles", and with similar patterns found in grasslands in south-western Africa, they had invoked an air of mystery.

But Martu Aboriginal elders have knowledge on the phenomenon dating back many generations.

They were well aware of the tiny insects playing a big part in the natural puzzle.

New research conducted by a cross-cultural team suggests the circles are actually the pavement nests occupied by harvester termites, and may have been formed in the Pleistocene era - more than 12,000 years ago.  

The insights came from researchers and elders who had documented Martu and Warlpiri oral narratives, investigated local art and analysed soil data.

Project lead, ethno-ecologist Dr Fiona Walsh, said she learned about the links between termites and bare patches while working with Martu elders as a young researcher.

"The pavements as they're called in desert ecology by Australian scientists were known to be occupied by what they call harvester termites or spinifex termites," Dr Walsh said.

But research released in 2016 indicated the Pilbara's "fairy circles" were caused by plants organising themselves according to the scarce water and nutrients.

Dr Walsh said that left her puzzled.

"I wouldn't have known to even question the articles I was reading in 2016 had I not learned from Martu people in the 1980s about their interpretations of these pavements and their uses of the pavements," she said.

Dr Walsh, along with a team that included eight Indigenous co-authors and eight scientists, published a peer-reviewed article in the Nature Ecology and Evolution journal that said Aboriginal people had a different explanation for the bare circular patches in spinifex grasslands.

Dr Walsh said their team also surveyed plots examined by previous researchers on Nyiyaparli country, east of the small mining town of Newman, in the Pilbara.

They excavated 60 trenches across four plots that were used in previous research.

All of them revealed termite chambers.

Dr Walsh said their research found that termites lived in the circle structures and continued to build them.

"It's unequivocal from our side," she said.

But Dr Walsh said something much greater had emerged through their research.

"When we looked into Aboriginal stories, narratives, dictionaries, artworks — that opened up this whole much richer, more interesting story to me about the roles of termites, spinifex termites in desert Aboriginal peoples' lives," she said.

"If there was this much to discover about termites, imagine what there was to be found about emus, red kangaroos, and a whole plethora of other common species that are deeply important to Aboriginal people.

"I think the methods that we've been using, as well as the richness of what we're finding together, and bouncing and learning from each other, has potential for a much wider understanding of plants and animals within desert areas."

Ms Bidu was a co-author of the study. 

She said the old people taught them everything, and they were now passing the information to the young people.

She said the research was an important part in the process.

"They're the next step, when we're gone, so they've got that stuff for their future and their kids," she said.