 Tom Iraci / U.S. Forest Service file | |
| Research ecologist Charlie Crisafulli holds a frog that was netted during amphibian sampling in March 2005. A small steam plume rises from Mount St. Helens behind him. |
It’s been 30 years since Mother Nature kicked off an experiment in creative destruction at Mount St. Helens, and today the volcano serves as a prime example of how life adapts to changing conditions.
The changes on the mountain are fascinating to biologists – and perhaps unexpectedly, creationists as well.
For example, consider the amphibians of the ponds: When the volcano blew on May 18, 1980, an avalanche of logs, rocks and other debris wiped out some lakes and reshaped others. Biologists thought amphibians such as salamanders, frogs and toads would be among the hardest-hit species.
“They’re thought to be very sensitive to environmental change,” Charlie Crisafulli, a U.S. Forest Service ecologist who has been studying St. Helens since shortly after the eruption, told a “Nova” documentary team.
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