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Science 19 May 2000:
Vol. 288. no. 5469, pp. 1183 - 1184
DOI: 10.1126/science.288.5469.1183
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Perspectives

Also see the archival list of Science's Compass: Enhanced Perspectives

ECOLOGY:
Enhanced: Messages from a Mountain

Jerry F. Franklin and James A. MacMahon

Mt. St. Helens' eruption on 18 May 1980 devastated a vast forested area, creating an unprecedented natural laboratory for studying the effects of large disturbances on ecosystems. As Franklin and MacMahon discuss in this Perspective, recovery was found not to follow the expected pattern of "ecological succession" from the edges. Rather, it was found to be highly heterogeneous, with surviving organisms and organic structures such as tree boles and standing dead trees playing a major role. In a related Perspective, Newhall discusses the geological lessons learned from the eruption.

J. F. Franklin is in the College of Forest Resources, Box 352100, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. E-mail: jff{at}u.washington.edu J. A. MacMahon is Dean of the College of Sciences, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322-4400, USA. E-mail: jam{at}cc.usu.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)