Sci204 Week 2 Lab

Ecosystems, Biodiversity, and Species

Name

Environmental Science with Lab 537

iLab 2

January 20, 2015

Exercise 1: After the eruption of Mount St. Helens, according to an article by Rebecca Lindsey (n.d.) the first recovery that was seen in the area was in the northwestern quadrant where it erupted, the most distant from the volcano. This was in the late 1980s and after another 10 years, at the east of Spirit Lake the area was considerably greener. The first plant to come back from being destroyed was a prairie lupine, they help draw insects and herbivores. Every organism that died and survived was able to speed up the process of recovery. As plants provided food and shelter, the animals were either preys or predators, and lastly dead organisms gave a substantial amount of food that were returned to the soil. (“Mount St. Helens,” 2013) Scientists that are studying the area learned that those that survived like fallen trees, buried seeds, and amphibians are important part of the growth process around the volcano. In addition to their findings, the native seeds are better than non-native due to better results in controlling erosion. With that said using native seeds first should not be an afterthought. (Werts, 2012) In this case of Mount St. Helens recovery after the eruption, the producers were those plants that grew which was the prairie lupine at first. The consumers were those herbivores that only ate those plants. Finally, the decomposers are those that ate dead organisms so that they can return those nutrients back to the soil and the process starts all over again with the producers.

References

Lindsey, R. (n.d.). Devastation and Recovery at Mt. St. Helens. Retrieved January 18, 2015, from http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WorldOfChange/sthelens.php

Mount St. Helens. (2013, March 28). Retrieved January 18, 2015, from http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/mtsthelens/research/index.shtml

Werts, M. (2012, May 29). Geology vs. Ecology. Retrieved January...