In all areas surrounding the crater, the island is characterized by steep sea-cliffs, talus slopes, and small, boulder-filled beaches.

[6] Before the 2008 eruption, the Kasatochi Island landscape was steep and rugged, home to dense vegetation and different species of flora.

The coastal and marine habitat flourished with their own species of vegetation as well, including many different types of sea grasses, kelp, corals, sponges, and roots (namely along the rocky coasts).

[2] Kasatochi Island was the home of many species, but most notable were the populations of diverse seabirds, avian predators and marine invertebrates.

[2] Ocean currents, productivity, and the habitable island geology created the ideal conditions for these select groups of fauna.

[7] Other species included seabirds such as the Fork-tailed petrel, the whiskered auklet, the ancient murrelet, gulls, guillemots, and cormorants.

[5] At the time there were about 300 people living on the island, and while there were no immediate deaths or injuries, the long-term effects of this population being so close to the eruption are still unknown.

[5] The water level in the lake on Kasatochi significantly decreased following the eruption; however, several streams flowing out of the lower crater walls slowly refilled it.

The shoreline surrounding the crater was extended hundreds of meters by pyroclastic deposits, destroying a large amount of the marine habitat that resided near the edge of the island.

Almost all terrestrial vegetation, including grasses, trees, and herbaceous plants, was destroyed by the high temperatures before being covered, which would become one of the main problems for recolonization on land.

Nearly all of the marine and avian mammal breeding habitat was covered by volcanic ash, including the rookery on the north side of the island for the endangered Steller sea lions that previously resided there.

[5] Because of the intensity of this natural disturbance and the almost complete devastation of life on Kasatochi right after the eruption, the island became a textbook site for primary succession.

Prior to the 2008 eruption, Kasatochi Island was a part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge (ANMWR).

This situation may have seemed similar to many other eruptions throughout history, including Surtsey in Iceland, Krakatau in Indonesia, Usu in Japan, Ksudach in Russia, and Mount St. Helens in the United States.

[7] However, the eruption of Kasatochi specifically gave scientists an extremely rare opportunity to study the primary succession of species back onto the island.

This opportunity was due to the fact that rarely does such a devastating natural disaster occur in an environment where there had been extensive research on preexisting species and vegetation.

[7] In the summer of 2008, a team of researchers visited the island to observe and record the immediate consequences of the eruption on all present communities.

[7] Another observation in the field was the surprising existence of "legacies" (remnants of an ecosystem that escape total destruction) on Kasatochi, whose eruption was thought to have destroyed every sign of life down to its soil.

These dispersal methods will lead to greater species diversity only when the terrestrial habitat stabilizes in response to abiotic and external forces.