[Fornlist] lunch/lecture by Virginia Dale , "Lessons from the 1980 Eruption of Mount St. Helens" @1201 Oak Ridge Turnpike

[Bob Costner]

[address list suppressed to frustrate spammers. Please note our website at 
http://www.fornl.org where all our upcoming programmatic content and 
updates are posted. Check this website for last minute changes.]

Greetings, Friends. Please join us for another interesting and certainly
very salient and topical program: 

April 16, 2008 Friends of ORNL Lunch/Lecture
"Lessons from the 1980 Eruption of Mount St. Helens"
Virginia H. Dale, Chief Scientist for Systems Biology and Biotechnology, ORNL

Abstract: 
Mount St. Helens, a snow-capped mountain in Southwest Washington's Gifford Pinchot National
Forest, exploded in 1980. That eruption involved diverse geological processes that disturbed
forests, meadows, lakes, and rivers. The 1980 eruption created wonderful opportunities for
scientists to study the ecological responses to a large, infrequent disturbance. The post-eruption
landscape became a living laboratory for scientists. Scientists expected that, no living organisms
would have survived within certain areas and the establishment of new life would be slow and
follow known successional stages. What they discovered surprised them.

Survival of organisms was strongly influenced by characteristics of disturbance processes, local
site conditions, and biological factors. The timing of the eruption-that is, time of day, time of
year, and the stage of development (succession) of plant and animal communities -strongly
influenced patterns of survival and succession. Key successional processes after any major
disturbance include dispersal, site amelioration, establishment of organisms, species accrual,
biotic interactions, and changing community structure. The rate of ecological response varied
greatly among the different environments. Scientists discovered important connections between
organisms and interactions that allowed colonization and renewal to occur. Human activities
have greatly altered natural ecological processes in many areas affected by the eruption. 
Mount St. Helens has offered scientists opportunities to assess the resistance and resilience of
various life forms to catastrophic events. Lessons learned have rewritten scientists'
understanding of recovery and succession and have been used to restore landscapes destroyed by
mining and hurricanes. For example, expecting recovery to occur from the margins, scientists
were surprised to discover the importance of thousands upon thousands of surviving organisms
within much of the volcanic landscape. Without plants and animals surviving in patches and in
surrounding areas, recovery would not have occurred as quickly and widespread as it did. The
future at Mount St. Helens will be one of continuing change. Patterns of recovery from the 1980
eruption can inform recovery from other types of disturbances.

Wed. 16 April 2008: 11:00 am - 1:00 pm
1201 Oak Ridge Turnpike see directions below

Speaker's bio below.

Lunch by the Soup Kitchen will be $7.00 and includes at least 2 choices of
hot soup, choice of sandwich, pickle, chips, choice of iced tea or hot coffee,
and choice of dessert.

As always, registered professional engineers who attend shall receive
one (1) PDH certificate. 
NOTICE - NOTICE

Members wishing to submit renewal dues by mail
can make a check for $20.00 payable to FORNL
and mail it to:

Treasurer, Friends of ORNL
214 Park Lane
Oliver Springs, TN 37840