Charles M. Crisafulli – författare

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.

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.

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.

This book builds on existing work exploring succession, disturbance ecology, and the interface between geophysical and biological systems in the aftermath of the 1980 eruptions of Mount St. Helens. The eruption was dramatic both in the spatial extent of impacts and the range of volcanic disturbance types and intensities. Complex geophysical forces created unparalleled opportunities to study initial ecological responses and long-term succession processes that occur in response to a major contemporary eruption across a great diversity of ecosystems—lowland to alpine forests, meadows, lakes, streams, and rivers. These factors make Mount St. Helens an extremely rich environment for learning about the ecology of volcanic areas and, more generally, about ecosystem response to major disturbance of many types, including land management. Lessons about ecological recovery at Mount St. Helens are shaping thought about succession, disturbance ecology, ecosystem management, and landscape ecology. In the first five years after the eruption several syntheses documented the numerous, intensive studies of ecological recovery. The 2005 volume “Ecological Responses to the 1980 Eruption of Mount St. Helens” (Springer Publishing) was the first ecological synthesis since 1987 of the scores of ecological studies underway in the area. More than half of the world’s published studies on plant and animal responses to volcanic eruptions have taken place at Mount St. Helens. The 25-year synthesis, which generally included investigations (i.e., data) from 1980-2000, made it possible to more thoroughly analyze initial stages of ecological responses and to test the validity of early interpretations and the duration of early phenomena. And 35 years after the eruption, it is time for many of the scientists working in the first three-decade, post-eruption period to pass the science baton to the next generation of scientists to work at Mount St. Helens, anda synthesis at this time of transfer of responsibility to a younger cohort of scientists will be an enormous asset to the continuation of work at the volcano.

This book builds on existing work exploring succession, disturbance ecology, and the interface between geophysical and biological systems in the aftermath of the 1980 eruptions of Mount St. Helens. The eruption was dramatic both in the spatial extent of impacts and the range of volcanic disturbance types and intensities. Complex geophysical forces created unparalleled opportunities to study initial ecological responses and long-term succession processes that occur in response to a major contemporary eruption across a great diversity of ecosystems—lowland to alpine forests, meadows, lakes, streams, and rivers. These factors make Mount St. Helens an extremely rich environment for learning about the ecology of volcanic areas and, more generally, about ecosystem response to major disturbance of many types, including land management. Lessons about ecological recovery at Mount St. Helens are shaping thought about succession, disturbance ecology, ecosystem management, and landscape ecology.

In the first five years after the eruption several syntheses documented the numerous, intensive studies of ecological recovery. The 2005 volume “Ecological Responses to the 1980 Eruption of Mount St. Helens” (Springer Publishing) was the first ecological synthesis since 1987 of the scores of ecological studies underway in the area. More than half of the world’s published studies on plant and animal responses to volcanic eruptions have taken place at Mount St. Helens. The 25-year synthesis, which generally included investigations (i.e., data) from 1980-2000, made it possible to more thoroughly analyze initial stages of ecological responses and to test the validity of early interpretations and the duration of early phenomena. And 35 years after the eruption, it is time for many of the scientists working in the first three-decade, post-eruption period to pass the science baton to the next generation of scientists to work at Mount St. Helens, and

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time of transfer of responsibility to a younger cohort of scientists will be an enormous asset to the continuation of work at the volcano.