Kīpuka

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Hawai`i
Green kīpukas surrounded by brown lava flows erupted from Iwate volcano, Japan

A kīpuka is an area of land surrounded by one or more younger lava flows. A kīpuka forms when lava flows on either side of a hill, ridge, or older lava dome as it moves downslope or spreads from its source. Older and more weathered than their surroundings, kīpukas often appear to be like islands within a sea of lava flows. They are often covered with soil and late ecological successional vegetation that provide visual contrast as well as habitat for animals in an otherwise inhospitable environment. In volcanic landscapes, kīpukas play an important role as biological reservoirs or refugia for plants and animals, from which the covered land can be recolonized.[1]

Etymology

Kīpuka, along with

pāhoehoe, are Hawaiian words related to volcanology that have entered the lexicon of geology. Descriptive proverbs and poetical sayings in Hawaiian oral tradition also use the word, in an allusive sense, to mean a place where life or culture endures, regardless of any encroachment or interference.[2][3] By extension, from the appearance of island "patches" within a highly contrasted background, any similarly noticeable variation or change of form, such as an opening in a forest, or a clear place in a congested setting, may be colloquially called kīpuka.[4]

Significance to research

Kīpuka provides useful study sites for

island biogeography,[5] food web control,[6] and biotic resistance to invasiveness.[7] In addition, Drosophila silvestris populations inhabit kīpukas, making kīpukas useful for understanding the fragmented population structure and reproductive isolation of this fly species.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ U.S. National Park Service. "Kīpuka - Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  2. ISBN 9780824829469
    .
  3. ISBN 9781478007418
    .
  4. ^ Hawaiian Language Dictionaries, Wehe²wiki². kīpuka.
  5. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2009.10.009
    .
  6. S2CID 18812994
    . Retrieved 22 August 2013.
  7. S2CID 17911420
    . Retrieved 22 August 2013.
  8. S2CID 31190930
    .

External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kīpuka.


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