Are mushrooms heterotroph or autotroph?
The explanation for this is regarding to how mushrooms are heterotrophs. They completely deplete the nutrients in the grass on the inside of the circle, as the grass cannot have the chance to obtain nutrients from other sources. However, the grass on the outside of the circle is gaining nutrients from the mushrooms to produce more of their own, so that, for a time, the grass on the outside of the ring benefits, until the mushrooms are close enough to start to absorb nutrients from that area more directly.