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Which natural events can cause ecological disturbances?
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ecological disturbance
Aerial view of the remains of trees on a hillside after a forest fire.
An ecological disturbance is an event or force, whether of biological or nonbiological origin, that causes mortality to organisms and alters the spatial patterning of an ecosystem.1
Natural events that cause these disturbances vary in scale and intensity:
- Minor disturbances: These include localized wind events, droughts, floods, small wildland fires, and disease outbreaks. In wetlands, additional natural factors include tidal inundation, waves, herbivory, ice scour, erosion, sedimentation, and beaver activity.15
- Major disturbances: These include large-scale wind events such as tropical cyclones, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, intense forest fires, epidemics, and ocean temperature changes linked to El Niño or other climate phenomena. Landslides and advancing glaciers can also cause catastrophic changes that effectively eliminate biological activity in a landscape.12
While some disturbances are predictable based on historical data, others—particularly those of biological origin—can be difficult to forecast. These events are fundamental to ecological succession, the process by which biological communities change and evolve over time.312