The East Aiken Elementary kids discovered that it was not an easy hike from the North Carolina sandhills eastward to the coast, but they arrived on September 29, 1999. Hurricane Floyd generated heavy rainfall in many parts of the eastern U.S., but especially in coastal North Carolina. In the science of ecology such disasters are called disturbances . When viewed at the appropriately large scale, disturbances such as storms and fires are often ecologically positive, because they generate a diversity of habitats across a landscape.
High winds blow down trees and create small and large gaps in forests.
Sediment-laden floodwaters crest riverbanks, scour out new pond depressions and, as the water slows down across the floodplain, deposit rich soils and nutrients. Wind-swept fires create mosaics of burned patches next to unscathed forests. Usually a high diversity of habitats means a high diversity of plants and animals that inhabit those habitats. High winds can cause blow downs and create forest gaps Fires cause vigorous regrowth and create habitat mosaics Certainly some individual organisms are killed during extreme events such as hurricanes, massive mudslides, or volcanic eruptions. Catastrophes carried to the extreme, such as asteroid impacts with Earth, can cause species extinctions.