
By building “fairy circles,” termites engineer their own ecosystem - iProject
http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/03/by-building-fairy-circles-termites-engineer-their-own-ecosystem/
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necolas
Nice example of "ecosystem engineering" or "niche construction". It's
increasingly considered to be an important evolutionary mechanism.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niche_construction>

One of the most significant inadvertent "engineering" events was the
biologically-induced oxygenation of Earth's atmosphere:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxygenation_Event>

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loceng
If we get our atmosphere back to higher oxygen levels then we could have big
dinosaurs again! I'm unsure of how humans would fair though.

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prawks
From what I understand, higher oxygen levels were only linked to large
invertebrates, not dinosaurs:

 _Some paleontologists speculated that oxygen might be behind the evolution of
huge dinosaurs, too, but the hypothesis has been totally undermined by
evidence from the geological record and dinosaur anatomy. Geochemical evidence
has shown that Jurassic and Cretaceous air contained about as much oxygen as
today, if not a little less. More than that, the dinosaurs did not need
increased oxygen to adequately nourish their bodies.

As part of their respiratory system, sauropods had a complex network of air
sacs that gave them two advantages._

[http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/02/25/dinosaur-...](http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/02/25/dinosaur-
reproduction-not-ancient-gravity-made-sauropods-super-sized/)

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troymc
I'm reminded of a similarly circular phenomenon, known as "fairy ring," where
mushrooms grow in a circle. They appeared on our lawn in Saskatchewan from
time to time; apparently it happens all over the world.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_ring>

