Effects of Hurricanes on Plants and Animals

The effects of a hurricane can be dramatic on human beings. However, people aren't the only ones affected by these natural disasters. While some types of animals and plants don't experience many ramifications from a hurricane, other plants and animals can suffer adverse consequences after one of these big storms occurs.

Marine Animals

• For the most part, marine animals are spared much of the destruction of a hurricane. Their watery worlds buffer them from the damaging winds and heavy, flooding rains that so vex the human population. While these animals are subject to the high seas that accompany a hurricane, most sea creatures are able to dive to depths where the water is more settled to ride out the worst of the storm. Where deeper water is not an option, many sea animals find shelter among rocks or reefs, where the effects of the raging seas can be somewhat mitigated by these solid structures.

Marine Plants

• Marine plants are not as lucky as their animal cohorts when it comes to surviving hurricanes, but are still more resilient than the human population. As these plants are not mobile, they must ride out the storm, often taking the full brunt of nature's wrath. This is most evident in shallow waters, where some grasses and plants are uprooted, causing many to die. However, even being removed from the sea floor does not kill all plant species, as some have evolved the ability to reroot themselves when conditions are favorable. Plants in deeper waters probably aren't affected by anything happening up on the surface, with an expansive watery pillow buffeting them from the storm.

Land Animals

• Perhaps the largest group affected by hurricanes is land animals, whose only defense against the wind and water is to flee or seek available shelter. Humans like to think that we are the best at adapting to changing conditions, but many species of animal are much better at survival in these situations than are we. Because many land animals have evolved to fill a specific niche in nature, they have developed survival and coping skills in the face of natural disasters. Obviously, many wild animals are killed and injured by hurricanes, but when compared to the vast numbers of these animals that are out there, the percentage that survives unscathed is very high. The longest-lasting effect that hurricanes have on the animal population is through the destruction of their habitat and the food chain, but animals are able to get back to a "normal" routine much quicker than the human population.

Land Plants

• Much like land animals, trees and plants living on solid ground have developed coping mechanisms to deal with the effects of a hurricane. Most famously is the palm tree, which has evolved a flexibility and minimal wind resistance to best weather a tropical storm. Grasses, shrubs and small plants are often flooded by sea and river water during and after a hurricane, but are equipped to bounce back quickly and reestablish themselves. Hardest hit in a hurricane are the hardwoods like oaks and maples, whose wide rigid trunks do not allow them to absorb the blow of a hurricane the way palms and even pine trees can.