Monday, November 15, 2010
Science Nation - Mount St. Helens: Rising From the Ashes
Here's an example of nature recovering from a natural disasters. In a landscape filled with volcanic ash the only species that could thrive there was a wild Lupin. This isn't that surprising though as Legumes tend to enjoy sandy soil and many species benefit from a little ash in the soil to trigger germination. Being a legume also means they create their own fertilizer. Because they're a forb the green growth dies each winter, creating organic matter to be recycled into soil. This allows other species to come back to the devastated landscape but as we see in the video it's not all fair and balanced.