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Consequences of “natural” disasters on aquatic life and habitats
“Natural” disasters (also known as geophysical disasters) involve physical processes that have a direct or indirect impact on humans. These events occur rapidly and may have severe consequences for resident flora and fauna as their habitat undergoes dramatic and sudden change. Although most studies have focused on the impact of natural disasters on humans and terrestrial systems, geophysical disasters can also impact aquatic ecosystems. Here, we provide a synthesis on the effects of the most common and destructive geophysical disasters on aquatic systems (life and habitat). Our approach spanned realms (i.e., freshwater, estuarine, and marine) and taxa (i.e., plants, vertebrates, invertebrates, and microbes) and included floods, droughts, wildfires, hurricanes/cyclones/typhoons, tornadoes, dust storms, ice storms, avalanches (snow), landslides, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes (including limnic eruptions), tsunamis, and cosmic events. Many geophysical disasters have dramatic effects on aquatic systems. The evidence base is somewhat limited for some natural disasters because transient events (e.g., tornadoes and floods) are difficult to study. Most natural disaster studies focus on geology/geomorphology and hazard assessment for humans and infrastructure. However, the destruction of aquatic systems can impact humans indirectly through loss of food security, cultural services, or livelihoods. Many geophysical disasters interact in complex ways (e.g., wildfires often lead to landslides and flooding) and can be magnified or otherwise mediated by human activities. Our synthesis reveals that geophysical events influence aquatic ecosystems, often in negative ways, yet systems can be resilient provided that effects are not compounded by anthropogenic stressors. It is difficult to predict or prevent geophysical disasters but understanding how aquatic ecosystems are influenced by geophysical events is important given the inherent connection between peoples and aquatic ecosystems.acceptedVersio
Long-term monitoring of Mount St. Helens micrometeorology
The 1980 volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens had profound impacts on the geology, hydrology, and ecology of its surrounding landscapes. Consequently, the event provided a unique opportunity to study ecological change over time in relation to abiotic factors. To better assess the role localized environmental conditions play in these larger processes, we have monitored micrometeorological conditions across six disturbance zones on Mount St. Helens created by the eruption. We deployed 823 environmental sensors at 191 sites from 1997 to 2022 to measure the temperature and relative humidity of aquatic (temperature only) and terrestrial habitats in these areas, collecting over 4.2 million measurements in total. Measurements were typically recorded every 30 min from late spring through mid-fall, with the exception being Spirit Lake, where temperatures have been measured hourly on a year-round basis since 2002. These data have been used to address two broad research questions: (1) how small-scale environmental conditions influence patterns of survivorship and/or establishment on Mount St. Helens post-eruption for a range of organisms, including plants, small mammals, birds, amphibians, arthropods, fish, and other aquatic biota, and (2) to quantify and compare these environmental conditions across different disturbance zones, which vary in disturbance type, intensity, and history of post-eruption secondary disturbances. Due to the repeatability of these measurements over many years, these data lend themselves to exploring the relationship between forest succession and microclimate, especially with respect to forest-dwelling organisms whose spread and demography are sensitive to temperature and relative humidity. In addition, this dataset could be used to investigate additional questions related to early succession, disturbance ecology, climate change, or volcano ecology. This dataset is available in the R data package MSHMicroMetR, which also includes an R Shiny data visualization and exploration tool. There is no copyright on the data; please cite this data paper Ecology when using these data.https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.395