E-Books →Ecological Responses at Mount St. Helens Revisited 35 years after the 1980 Eruption (2024)

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 a 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.