Ep. 266 - After the Blast: The Ecological Recovery of Mount St. Helens
In Defense of Plants Podcast
In Defense of Plants
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 24 May 2020
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In May of 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted, creating a path of destruction for hundreds of miles. No one thought life would return to that stretch of mountain for decades but they were wrong. In only a few short weeks, plants began sprouting and fungi started fruiting. The ecology of Mount St. Helens has been full of surprises ever since and that is exactly the topic of this episode. Joining us is author Dr. Eric Wagner to talk about his new book "After the Blast: The Ecological Recovery of Mount St. Helens." Throughout the pages of this book, you will learn both about the science of understanding ecological succession in the wake of the volcanic eruption as well as how it changed the people who have spent 40 years studying it. It is a wonderful story that combines ecology, sociology, and anthropology to paint a picture of nature that can give us a feeling of hope. This episode was produced in part by Aaron, Sara, Kenned, Vaibhav, Kendall, Christina, Brett, Jocelyn, Kathleen, Ethan, Kaylee, Runaway Goldfish, Ryan, Donica, Chris, Shamora, Alana, Laura, Alice, Sarah, Rachel, Joanna, Griff, Philip, Paul, Matthew, Clark, Bobby, Kate, Steven, Brittney, McMansion Hell, Joey, Catherine, Brandon, Hall, Vegreville Creek and Wetlands Fund, Kevin, Oliver, John, Johansson, Christina, Jared, Hannah, Katy Pye, Brandon, Gwen, Carly, Stephen, Botanical Tours, Moonwort Studios, Liba, Mohsin Kazmi Takes Pictures, doeg, Clifton, Stephanie, Benjamin, Eli, Rachael, Plant By Design, Philip, Brent, Ron, Tim, Homestead Brooklyn, Brodie, Kevin, Sophia, Mark, Rens, Bendix, Irene, Holly, Caitlin, Manuel, Jennifer, Sara, and Margie.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Would you like more In Defensive Plants each month? |
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| 0:16.7 | And as always, thank you for your continued support of Inefensive Plants. |
| 0:20.3 | Together, we are helping cure plant blindness around the world one episode at a time. |
| 0:26.7 | Hello everyone and welcome to the In Defensive Plants podcast, the official podcast of |
| 0:31.1 | IndefensivePlants.com. |
| 0:32.4 | What's up? This is your host, Matt. Welcome to the show. How's everyone doing this week? |
| 0:36.1 | Hanging in there? Staying healthy? I certainly hope so. On May 18th, we marked the show. How's everyone doing this week? Hanging in there, staying healthy? I |
| 0:38.0 | certainly hope so. On May 18th, we marked the 40-year anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens, |
| 0:44.4 | and though this was a little before my time, it was something that was always kind of in the |
| 0:48.1 | background of my childhood, in science classes, geology classes, but they really only scratched |
| 0:52.2 | the surface of what it was like to be around at that time, especially living within the vicinity of that volcano. |
| 0:57.7 | They never really described the incredible story of the ecological recovery of this region. |
| 1:02.0 | As you can imagine, a giant volcanic eruption like that is kind of like hitting the reset button |
| 1:06.4 | on nature. |
| 1:07.4 | The eruption did serious damage to the local ecology, but as you're going to hear today, |
| 1:11.6 | there was a lot of surprises in studying what happened after the eruption had ended. |
| 1:16.2 | Joining us to talk about this is author Dr. Eric Wagner, and he has written a book called |
| 1:20.6 | After the Blast, The Ecological Recovery of Mount St. Howans, which is an incredible tale about |
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