In November 2013, a volcanic eruption raised a large land mass in the Pacific Ocean, about 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo, eventually connecting with the nearby island of Nishinoshima in the Ogasawara archipelago . For the most part, the new 2.46-square-kilometer formation, which is still spreading, consists solely of rocks. Now a team of biologists has observed that although the outcrop is essentially a barren expanse, life can begin to colonize it from the droppings of seabirds .
"This island offers us the possibility of studying the evolutionary process from the very beginning," says Naoki Kachi, coordinator of the Ogasawara Research Committee at the Tokyo Metropolitan University. "Ocean currents, winds and some animals help transport the seeds that will end up thriving in this place," he says. Although the enclave is somewhat remote from its neighbors in the archipelago, seabirds can use it to rest , and if it is beneficial, they will settle permanently. Precisely, Kachi and his collaborators believe that their waste, from the feathers and the food that they regurgitate to their corpses, will form a layer rich in nutrients that the plants will use to develop and build an incipient ecosystem.
