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DEATH OF STEPPE CRYPTOGAMS UNDER THE ASH FROM MOUNT ST. HELENS
Author(s) -
Harris Elaine,
Mack Richard N.,
Ku Maurice S. B.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.1002/j.1537-2197.1987.tb08738.x
Subject(s) - lichen , steppe , volcanic ash , seedling , biology , alien , volcano , ecology , botany , paleontology , politics , citizenship , political science , law
Terrestrial mosses and lichens in the steppe of Washington were buried under volcanic ash from the 18 May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Unlike adult vascular plants in these communities, these cryptogams died following the deposition of silt‐size ash. Death within as little as four months was demonstrated by anatomical deterioration and these organisms' inability to fix CO 2 , to fluoresce in IR radiation, and to absorb vital stains. Although cryptogams in the steppe have probably been destroyed repeatedly by ash falls during the Holocene, this recent destruction is the first since the arrival of alien plants in the nineteenth century. Death of cryptogams may allow the initiation of further colonization by alien plants because a cryptogamic crust forms a barrier to seedling establishment.