Field Notes: After the storm

Nevis Conservation Officer Julia Robertson looks for the positive in the wake of Storm Amy.

We're getting the autumn feels here at Nevis. Like most of the country, our trees and paths took a bit of a beating from Storm Amy. 

However, while storm events cause a lot of damage – and can impede access to trails – the natural disturbance they bring also creates lots of positive long-term benefits for river ecosystems.

Flooding from storm events can physically restructure river systems. For example, fallen windblown trees create woody debris structures that help slow the flow of water, creating deeper pools and silt banks and providing a refugee for river species at different stages of their life cycle. This new mosaic of different habitats increases wider biodiversity.

There are lots of river restoration projects out there that are artificially inserting tree trunks and engineering them into river beds using machinery, but storm events are essentially doing that for us for free.

Nature's solutions in action.