Biological legacies: Direct early ecosystem recovery and food web reorganization after a volcanic eruption in Alaska

Walker, Lawrence R.; Sikes, Derek S.; DeGange, Anthony R.; Jewett, Stephen C.; Michaelson, G. J.; Talbot, Sandra L.; Talbot, Stephen S.; Wang, Bronwen; Williams, Jeffrey C.

doi:10.2980/20-3-3603

Cited by 55 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Sequential recovery/colonization of successively higher trophic levels creates herbivore‐free time for rapid plant growth and subsequent predator‐free time for herbivores. Evidence for herbivore‐free time is found in studies of plants following a catastrophic hurricane, colonizing algae following river flooding, and plants following volcanic eruptions . We found that herbivores colonized exposed islands devastated by Hurricane Lili before predators did, giving them a period of predator‐free time that resulted in major damage on plants .…”

Section: Toward a Conceptual Framework On Food‐web Successionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Recovery of food webs following natural physical disturbances

Spiller

Schoener

Piovia‐Scott

2018

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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The objective of our paper is to develop a mechanistic conceptual framework for how food webs recover from natural physical disturbances. We summarize our work on the effect of hurricanes on island food webs and review other studies documenting how other types of physical disturbances (including fires, floods, and volcanic eruptions) alter food-web interactions. Based on these case studies, we propose that four factors play an important role in food-web succession: (1) disturbance intensity, (2) sequential recovery/colonization of successively higher trophic levels, (3) tradeoffs between growth rate of organisms at different successional stages and susceptibility to consumers, and (4) detritus including autochthonous and allochthonous sources. Studies on river flooding and islands disturbed by hurricanes indicate that energy flow is higher and trophic cascades are stronger during recovery than when the food web is at a steady state. We suggest that as consumer species colonize during succession, they may change the species or phenotypic composition of their food supply from highly vulnerable to less vulnerable items, thereby weakening both bottom-up and top-down effects throughout the food web. High inputs of detritus caused by disturbances can amplify bottom-up effects during early succession, and subsequently alter top-down effects.

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Section: Toward a Conceptual Framework On Food‐web Successionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Recovery of food webs following natural physical disturbances

Spiller

Schoener

Piovia‐Scott

2018

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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“…Bacterial phyla found in bare pyroclastic Microbial structure and function after volcanic eruption 153 materials, particularly Aquificae and Betaproteobacteria, could contain hydrogen or carbon monoxide oxidizers typical of other volcanic or hydrothermal environments (Nanba et al, 2004;Hall et al, 2008). S3), suggesting that local aeolian redistribution of pre-eruption legacy soils is more important in determining bacterial diversity on the new pyroclastic deposits (Sabacka et al, 2012;Walker et al, 2013). 3), suggesting that atmospheric deposition might contribute cells colonizing these surfaces (Smith et al, 2013).…”

Section: Microbial Community Assembly Post-eruptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Aleutian Islands experience high levels of volcanic activity, driven by subduction along the Aleutian Trench (Miller et al, 1998;Jicha et al, 2006). Rapid erosion of the volcanic deposits has exposed pre-eruptive soils on high ridges and within gullies , and plant regrowth is evident in most places where these 'legacy' soils are at or near the current surface (Talbot et al, 2010;Walker et al, 2013). This event buried the entire island and destroyed seabird rookeries and lush meadows (DeGange et al, 2010), which are biologically rich and productive communities typical of the Aleutian Islands.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organic matter quantity and source affects microbial community structure and function following volcanic eruption on Kasatochi Island, Alaska

Zeglin

Wang

Waythomas

et al. 2015

Environmental Microbiology

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In August 2008, Kasatochi volcano erupted and buried a small island in pyroclastic deposits and fine ash; since then, microbes, plants and birds have begun to re-colonize the initially sterile surface. Five years post-eruption, bacterial 16S rRNA gene and fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) copy numbers and extracellular enzyme activity (EEA) potentials were one to two orders of magnitude greater in pyroclastic materials with organic matter (OM) inputs relative to those without, despite minimal accumulation of OM (< 0.2%C). When normalized by OM levels, post-eruptive surfaces with OM inputs had the highest β-glucosidase, phosphatase, NAGase and cellobiohydrolase activities, and had microbial population sizes approaching those in reference soils. In contrast, the strongest factor determining bacterial community composition was the dominance of plants versus birds as OM input vectors. Although soil pH ranged from 3.9 to 7.0, and %C ranged 100×, differentiation between plant- and bird-associated microbial communities suggested that cell dispersal or nutrient availability are more likely drivers of assembly than pH or OM content. This study exemplifies the complex relationship between microbial cell dispersal, soil geochemistry, and microbial structure and function; and illustrates the potential for soil microbiota to be resilient to disturbance.

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“…Extractable ammonium and nitrate-N was determined using a 2M KCl extraction followed by autoanalyzer-colorimetry and plant-available P, K, Cu, Zn, Mn, and Fe determined by Mehlich-3 extraction followed by ICP-AES analysis (Michaelson and Ping, 1986;Walworth et al, 1992). Organic C and total N accumulation in LS profiles were calculated using total C and N analysis, soil Db, coarse fragment content and horizon thicknesses as described by Michaelson et al, (2013). Averages of the data from above analyses are given in Table 1.…”

Section: Sampling and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bird nutrient inputs have also been linked to broaderarea soil fertility of the Aleutian Islands (Maron et al, 2006), but little is known of their impacts on ecosystem recovery. Considering the relative isolation of Kasatochi Island from any large land masses, and the strong and continual erosive ac-tion present, along with the island's link to abundant seabird populations, the island could offer a different and interesting perspective with regard to recovery of this severely disrupted ecosystem (Walker et al, 2013). The relative interactions of the surface pyroclastic material along with the nutrient and biota inputs from legacy soils and returning birds will certainly be crucial to plant reestablishment and development of new soils and restoration of a fertile surface for vegetation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%