Mammalian community response to historic volcanic eruptions
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Date
2020-03-09
Authors
Famoso, Nicholas
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Mammalian Biology
Abstract
It is clear that ecosystems are devastated after a volcanic eruption coats the landscape with a layer of ash; however, the ecological
recovery of mammalian communities after eruptions is poorly understood. Volcanic eruptions vary with magnitude
and type and only a fraction of them have been analysed for effects on mammalian communities. To better understand mammalian
community recovery, I investigated how species richness, evenness, and similarity change across volcanic boundaries
in the 1980 Mount Saint Helens (MSH), Washington, and 1914–1917 Mount Lassen, California, eruptions. I compared these
eruptions to Mount Rainier, Washington and Mount Shasta, California as controls for regional changes in the fauna. Richness
and evenness remain relatively unchanged in Lassen. MSH saw an immediate drop in richness, followed by an increase
over 5 years to pre-eruptive levels. Chord distance analysis suggests no long-term change in the Lassen fauna. The pre- and
post-MSH fauna are different from one another. The post-eruptive fauna was more similar to neighbouring regions. It is
clear from my results that larger eruptions tend to have a greater impact on mammalian community recovery than smaller
eruptions, but ultimately, mammalian populations are robust and the presence of neighbouring communities is important
for recolonizing devastated areas.
Description
12 pages
Keywords
volcano ecology, disturbance ecology, historical data, Mount Saint Helens, Mount Lassen