I Climbed a Volcano to Solve a Biological Paradox

Mount Kelud is one of Indonesia's most violent and destructive volcanoes and yet it is also home to some of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet. And this pattern isn't unique to just Kelud. Across the world, volcanic landscapes consistently rank among the most species-rich environments we know of. So why? How do such hostile environments produce such extraordinary biodiversity?

That's the paradox I set out to investigate in this video. I climb Mount Kelud from its base to its crater, and along the way explain why volcanoes exist, how they work, and how life adapts to the harsh volcanic environment.

The video uses motion graphics, layered explanations and real-world examples to make complex biological topics engaging and digestible. The entire investigation is woven into a story that's fitting for anyone who finds themselves curious about the natural world.
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Chapters:

00:00 - Introduction
02:08 - What is a volcano?
03:18 - Mount Kelud
06:51 - Ecological succession
10:10 - Pioneer species
11:23 - Secondary succession
12:33 - Intermediate stages
16:15 - Conclusion

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Sources:

Global Volcanism Program. (2014). Report on Kelud (Indonesia) (Wunderman, R., ed.). Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, 39:2. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.BGVN201402-263280

Cassidy, M., Castro, J. M., Helo, C., Troll, V. R., Deegan, F. M., Muir, D., Neave, D. A., & Mueller, S. P. (2019). Explosive eruptions with little warning: Experimental petrology and volcano monitoring observations from the 2014 eruption of Kelud, Indonesia. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 20, 4218–4247. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GC008161

Dastrup, R. A. (2020). 4.5 Volcanism. In Physical Geography and Natural Disasters. SLCC Open Pressbooks. https://slcc.pressbooks.pub/physicalgeography/chapter/4-5/

Bachmann, O., & Huber, C. (2019). Optimal depth of subvolcanic magma chamber growth controlled by volatiles and crust rheology. Nature Geoscience, 12, 762–768. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0415-6

Panchuk, K. (2023). Chapter 11: Volcanism. In Physical Geology. Geosciences LibreTexts. https://geo.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Geology/Physical_Geology_(Panchuk)/11%3A_Volcanism

Wikipedia contributors. (2025). Phreatic eruption. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phreatic_eruption

Ishaq, R. M., Hairiah, K., Alfian, I., & van Noordwijk, M. (2020). Natural regeneration after volcanic eruptions: Resilience of the non-legume nitrogen-fixing tree Parasponia rigida. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 3, 562303. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2020.562303

Widyati, E., Susilo, A., Irianto, R. S. B., Pasaribu, G., Darwiati, W., Wardani, M., Lelana, N. E., Utami, S., Kalima, T., Yuniarti, N., Sutiyono, Mawazin, Faulina, S. A., & van Noordwijk, M. (2024). Revealing rhizosphere of edelweiss (Anaphalis longifolia), plant pioneer species in the volcanic mountain ecosystem in Indonesia. International Journal of Agriculture and Biology, 31, 1–9. https://www.cifor-icraf.org/knowledge/publication/18667/

Nawiyanto, & Sasmita, N. (2019). The eruption of Mount Kelud in 1919: Its impact and mitigation efforts. In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies (ICSSIS 2018) (pp. 127–133). Atlantis Press. https://doi.org/10.2991/icssis-18.2019.25

OpenStax. (2018). Biology 2e (Chapter 45.6: Community ecology — Succession). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/biology-2e/pages/45-6-community-ecology

OpenStax. (2018). Biology 2e (Chapter 25.3: Bryophytes). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/biology-2e/pages/25-3-bryophytes

Porada, P., Weber, B., Elbert, W., Pöschl, U., & Kleidon, A. (2014). Estimating impacts of lichens and bryophytes on global biogeochemical cycles of soil formation and chemical weathering. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 28(2), 71–85. https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GB004705

Music from Epidemicsound

Thanks to UWI Seismic Research Centre for footage

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