Synopses & Reviews
The eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980, had a momentous impact on the fungal, plant, animal, and human life from the mountain to the far reaches of the explosion's ash cloud and mudflows. Although this intense natural event caused loss of substantial life and property, it also created a unique opportunity to examine a huge disturbance of natural systems and their subsequent responses. Based on one of the most studied areas of volcanic activity, this book synthesizes the ecological research that has been conducted for twenty-five years since the eruption. Research from geology as well as plant and animal ecology has been integrated in this unprecedented look at the complex interactions of biological and physical systems in the response of the volcanic landscape. Lessons from the volcano inform our larger understanding of ecosystem disturbances, natural processes, and the impact of land-use practices. Included are results of significant and long-term research on vegetation, mycorrhizae, plant and animal interactions, arthropods, amphibians, mammals, fish, lakes, nutrient cycling, geomorphology, and environmental management. This comprehensive account will be of value to those interested in natural history, ecology, disturbance, conservation biology, limnology, geoscience, and land management. Questions about what actually happens when a volcano erupts, what the immediate and long-term dangers are, and how life reasserts itself in the environment are discussed in full detail. Virginia Dale is a Corporate Fellow in the Environmental Sciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She is also an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee. Fred Swanson is a Research Geologist at the USDA Forest Service Pacific NW Research Station in Corvallis, OR. Charles Crisafulli is an Ecologist at the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station in Olympia, WA.
Review
Aus den Rezensionen: "... Vorliegendes Werk fasst die Ergebnisse von 25 Jahren post-eruptiver Ökologischer Forschung am Mount St. Helens und seiner Umgebung zusammen. In ... 20 Kapiteln stellen ... die 47 Autoren ... ihre Ergebnisse in einem umfassenden ökologischen Kontext dar. ... Dem Textteil folgt [sic] eine ... Bibliographie, ein ... Glossar der wichtigsten Fachbegriffe sowie ein ... umfassender Index, der das gezielte Auffinden spezieller Informationen sehr erleichtert. Das Werk fasst geologische und ökologische Ergebnisse und Interpretationen der im durch die Eruption betroffenen Gebiet laufenden Langzeitstudien in einer umfassenden Synthese zusammen ..." (D. UHL, in: Zentralblatt für Geologie und Paläontologie Teil II, 2007, Issue 1-2, S. 115 f.)
Review
From the reviews: "On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens in Washington state erupted violently ... . In 20 chapters written by 48 contributors, this book provides an overview of the ecological and geological setting before the 1980 eruption and the geophysical environment created afterward. ... A major contribution to disturbance ecology, this book belongs on every ecologist's bookshelf. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers." (R. L. Smith, CHOICE, November, 2005) "The eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980 was one of the most significant events of recent times. It allowed us to haven an almost unprecedented chance to examine ecological processes ... . This is a fascinating book. It provides one of the very few detailed accounts of change. ... It follows that for those interested in this study, this is a crucial text. Mt. St. Helens makes a superb case study: this text makes the work accessible for those outside the immediate research community." (TENews, August, 2005) "The eruption of the Mount St. Helens in May 1980 was the most spectacular eruption since that of Krakatau in 1880 ... . Due to the great progress in science, it was possible to organize immediately systematic and very complex research, results of which are comprehensively presented in the book published for 25th anniversary of the eruption. ... The book is relevant not only for ecological theory, but also for practical restoration of disturbed sties. Moreover, one can read the book as a thrilling story." (Karel Prach, Folia Geobotanica, Vol. 41 (4), 2006)
Synopsis
Recon?guring Disturbance, Succession, and Forest Management: The Science of Mount St. Helens When Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980, it did more than just recon?gure a large piece of Cascadian landscape. It also led to dramatic revisions in our perspectives on disturbances, secondary succession, and forestry practices. The Mount St. Helens landscape turned out to be a far more complex place than the moonscape that it initially appeared to be. Granted, a large area was literally scoured and sterilized, and that vast expanse of newly formed rock, mud?ows, and avalanche debris up and down the mountain made the Mount St. Helens landscape unique. But I still remember my surprise when, as I stepped out of the helicopter on ?rst landing within the extensive devastated zone, I saw hundreds of plants pushing their way up through the mantel of tephra. Surviving organisms were stunning in their diversity, abundance, and the mechanisms by which they survived. They persisted as whole organisms living below ground, encased within late-persisting snowbanks, and buried in lake and stream sediments. They survived as rhizomes transported along with the massive landslide that accompanied the eruption and as stems that suffered the abrasion of mud?ows. Mud?ows ?oated nurse logs covered with tree seedlings and then redeposited them on the ?oor of a forested river terrace. Millions, perhaps billions, of plants survived as rootstocks and rhizomes that pushed their way up through the tephra, and others survived on the bases of uprooted trees."
Synopsis
Based on one of the most studied cases of volcanic activity, this book synthesizes the comprehensive research conducted for twenty-five years since the eruptions of Mount St. Helens. Research from geology as well as plant and animal ecology has been integrated into a complete, long- term study of the effects of volcanic activity. The authors contribute first-hand knowledge of this significant event, and its aftermath in the natural history of the earth. Questions about what actually happens when a volcano erupts, what the immediate and longterm dangers are, and how life reasserts itself in the area are discussed in full detail.
Synopsis
The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens caused tragic loss of life and property, but also created a unique opportunity to study a huge disturbance of natural systems and their subsequent responses. This book synthesizes 25 years of ecological research into of volcanic activity, and shows what actually happens when a volcano erupts, what the immediate and long-term dangers are, and how life reasserts itself in the environment.
About the Author
Virginia Dale is a Corporate Fellow in the Environmental Sciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She is also an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee. Fred Swanson is a Research Geologist at the USDA Forest Service Pacific NW Research Station in Corvallis, OR. Charles Crisafulli is an Ecologist at the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research station in Olympia, WA.
Table of Contents
Foreword.- Disturbance ecology.- Geological and ecological setting before May 18, 1980.- Geophysical environments & events at Mt. St. Helens since March 1980.- Spatial & temporal stratified analysis of landscape-scale vegetation change during the first 20 years following the eruptions.- Plant recovery in forest understories of the tephra- fall zone.- Vegetation recovery on volcanic mudflows.- Plant succession on the debris avalanche.- Proximity effects, microsites & biotic interactions during early primary succession.- Ups & downs of a biological mutualism: mycorrhizae & Mt. St. Helens.- The importance of herbivores in early primary succession at Mt. St. Helens.- Arthropods as pioneer (primary) colonists of the blast zone.- Post-eruption arthropod succession on Mt. St. Helens: ground-dwelling beetle fauna (Coleoptera).- Fish responses & recovery in systems impacted by the 1980 eruptions.- Resistance & resilience of an amphibian assemblage to catastrophic disturbance at Mt. St. Helens.- Reorganization of avian assemblages on lands impacted by the 1980 eruptions.- Small mammal colonization on Mt. St. Helens 1980-2000.- Response & recovery of lakes in the blast zone.- Policy implications.- Synthesis.