Top left: Rock at Alauddin Pass, Tajikistan, 3800 m above sea level; right: white, black and orange spots formed by fungi and lichens; bottom: fairy rings of 25 cm Ø

Fungi and lichens (symbiotic associations of fungi with algae or cyanobacteria) are real survivalists and pioneers under extremely harsh conditions, here on bare rock in high mountains.

Periodic growth during the warm seasons - over years and decades - leads to so-called fairy rings.

www.microbiological-garden.net