NATURAL DISTURBANCE ON ISLANDS 39
Environmental disturbance
regimes
Biotic responses
Evolution of
the biota
Ecosystem change
Speciation
Extinction
Secondary
succession
Gap-phase
replacement
Competition
*Disturbance events Productivity
Soil development
Plate
tectonics
100
100
103
106
109
104 108
Temporal scale (years)
1012 100
Spatial scale (m^2 )
*Examples:
Wildfire, wind damage,
flood, earthquake
104 108 1012
Glacial-
interglacial
climatic cycles
Human activities
Fire regime
Pathogen outbreak
Species migration
Climatic fluctuations
Figure 2.20Environmental disturbance regimes and biotic responses, viewed in the context of four space–time domains (shown here bounded
by dashed lines), named micro-, meso-, macro-, and mega-scales by the scheme’s authors. (Redrawn from Delcourt and Delcourt 1991, Fig. 1.6;
from an original in Delcourt and Delcourt 1988, with kind permission from Kluwer Academic Publishers.)
Table 2.5Disturbance phenomena affecting Caribbean islands (after Lugo 1988). See text for explanation of the five types
Disturbance Type Area Primary Duration Recurrence
phenomena affected impact
Hurricanes 3, 5 Large Mechanical Hours–days 20–30 years
High winds 3, 4, 5 Large Mechanical Hours Annual
High rainfall 4 Large Physiological Hours Decade
High-pressure systems 1 Large Physiological Days–weeks Decades
Earthquakes 2, 5 Small Mechanical Minutes 102 years
Volcanism All Small Mechanical Months–years 103 years
Tsunamis 3, 4, 5 Small Mechanical Days 102 years
Extreme low tides 1 Small Physiological Hours–days Decades
Extreme high tides 3, 4, 5 Small Mechanical Days–weeks 1–10 years
Exotic genetic material 2, 3 Large Biotic 102 years Decades
Human, e.g. energy 1 Small Biotic Years 1–10 years
Human, e.g. war 5 Small Mechanical Months–years?