Volcanoes are broadly distributed around the earth, with more than 1,500 of them currently active and dozens more erupting at any point in time. After eruptions, natural, agricultural, and social systems often areprofoundly disrupted and may remain so for centuries. The formal study of volcano ecology began in 1883 with the eruption of Krakatau in Indonesia. Since then, 404 volcanoes have erupted, but only 76 of these have been the focus of ecological inquiry, and most investigations have been limited in scope.
