IB Environmental Systems & Society · 3.0

When Isla Nublar
meets real ecology

An ESS analysis of the Mount Sibo volcanic eruption from Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom — exploring how one disaster triggers cascading environmental crises.

Air Pollution Habitat Loss Species Extinction
Section 3.0
The domino effect

The 5-minute eruption of Mount Sibo sets off three interlocking ESS crises. Click each stage to follow the cascade.

Stable ecosystem: Isla Nublar supports a complete food web. Biotic factors — trees, herbivores, apex predators — and abiotic factors — clean air, fresh water, sunlight, fertile soil — exist in equilibrium. Carrying capacity is at its maximum.
Crisis linkage
Three concepts, one trigger
🌋 Volcanic eruption
→
💨 Air pollution
+
🌿 Habitat loss
→
🦕 Species extinction

Toxic gases destroy air quality. Burning lava eliminates forests. With no food, water, or shelter, and with near-zero genetic diversity from lab cloning, extinction becomes inevitable.

3
ESS focus concepts
~5
Minutes — scene duration
3
Real-world parallels
Section 3.1
Air Pollution

Mount Sibo acts as a natural point source, releasing primary pollutants that instantly saturate the atmosphere and trigger secondary chemical reactions.

Live eruption model — drag to simulate intensity
80%
SO₂ concentration (primary pollutant)80%
Particulate matter PM2.5 (volcanic ash)72%
Available oxygen for organisms20%
Sunlight reaching forest floor15%
Primary pollutants (direct release) Sulfur dioxide (SO₂), volcanic ash, and carbon dioxide (CO₂) released directly from Mount Sibo. Immediately toxic — push out oxygen, making breathing impossible for island inhabitants.
Secondary pollutants (chemical reaction) SO₂ + atmospheric moisture → sulfuric acid → acid rain. Shifts the pH of Isla Nublar's soil and water, destroying any ecosystem components that survived the initial eruption.
Photosynthesis blockade Ash coats leaf surfaces and scatters sunlight. Primary productivity collapses → herbivores lose food → predators follow. The entire food chain unravels from the base.
Pollutant pathway
🌋 Volcano (point source) SO₂ + ash (primary) CO₂ + gases (primary) Acid rain (secondary) O₂ displaced
Real-world parallel — Canada wildfires 2023
Isla Nublar (film)
Canada, June 2023
Volcanic SO₂ saturates atmosphere within minutes
PM2.5 reached 10× the safe limit for humans
Ash cloud blocks all sunlight, killing primary production
"Global dimming" from brown carbon scattered sunlight
Dinosaurs forced to stampede to escape the toxic air
Emergency room asthma admissions increased 82%
Section 3.2
Habitat Loss

A habitat is defined by both biotic and abiotic factors. Mount Sibo destroys both simultaneously — collapsing the island's carrying capacity to zero.

Ecosystem carrying capacity over time
0 min
Forest canopy cover (biotic)100%
Fresh water availability (abiotic)100%
Shelter for species (biotic)100%
Overall carrying capacity100%
Biotic factors destroyed
Deforestation by lava Trees are a foundation species — they define the physical architecture of the jungle. Their loss eliminates shelter from predators and the primary food source for large herbivores like the Brachiosaurus.
Food web collapse Without vegetation, herbivores starve. Without herbivores, carnivores follow. Competitive exclusion (Gause's Law) accelerates — species sharing identical, now-absent resources die out first.
Abiotic factors destroyed
Air contamination CO₂, SO₂, and ash flood the atmosphere, depleting oxygen. Even dinosaurs that outrun the lava cannot survive without breathable air.
Water source destruction Ash and debris flood fresh water streams. Acid rain shifts the pH of remaining water bodies, destroying any aquatic species and eliminating drinking water for survivors.
Real-world parallel — Great Barrier Reef bleaching
Isla Nublar (film)
Great Barrier Reef
Lava destroys trees — the foundational biotic structure
Rising sea temp expels zooxanthellae — coral bleaches and starves
All species on Isla Nublar lose food, shelter, and water
30% of all marine fish lose their habitat from reef collapse
Carrying capacity of the island drops to zero instantly
Coral covers 0.5% of the ocean floor yet supports 30% of marine life
Section 3.3
Species Extinction

The cloned dinosaurs face a double threat: the habitat destruction of the eruption, and an artificial population bottleneck with near-zero genetic diversity.

Genetic diversity simulator
5%
← Lab-cloned dinosaurs (near-zero diversity)
Resistance to disease outbreaks5%
Ability to adapt to climate shift5%
Resilience to inbreeding depression4%
Long-term survival probability5%
The extinction cascade
Isolated population (island / lab)
↓
Population bottleneck — genetic diversity crashes
↓
Habitat destruction — carrying capacity → 0
↓
Survival threshold crossed → extinction
Artificial bottleneck in Jurassic World The clones were produced from a limited batch of DNA sequences. With no alternative population anywhere on Earth, when Isla Nublar is destroyed there is no genetic lifeline — extinction is certain.
The Brachiosaurus on the dock The iconic scene of a Brachiosaurus stranded in volcanic smoke as the ship departs visualizes exactly this: a species with nowhere left to go, genetically and geographically isolated, facing permanent extinction.
Real-world parallel — passenger pigeon extinction
Jurassic World dinosaurs
Passenger pigeon (extinct 1914)
Lab-cloned from limited DNA — near-zero genetic diversity
Billions of birds collapsed to a bottleneck population in decades
No alternative population exists on Earth after eruption
Social breeding required critical population density — fragmentation shattered it
Extinction driven by habitat loss + genetic vulnerability
Last individual "Martha" died in captivity, Cincinnati Zoo, 1914
Section 3.0 — Conclusion
From sci-fi to real science

The eruption of Mount Sibo is not just a dramatic film sequence — it is an accurate model of how environmental crises cascade through Earth's systems.

💨

Air Pollution

Volcanic SO₂ and ash demonstrate how a point source can instantly destroy air quality, block photosynthesis, and collapse a food chain from the base up — mirrored in the 2023 Canadian wildfires.

🌿

Habitat Loss

Simultaneous destruction of biotic and abiotic factors drives carrying capacity to zero. Foundation species — trees on Isla Nublar, coral on the reef — hold entire ecosystems together.

🦕

Species Extinction

Genetic diversity is the buffer against extinction. The Jurassic clones and the Passenger Pigeon both illustrate how isolation and bottlenecks leave a species unable to recover from any disruption.

The core ESS principle

Any disruption to the balance between biotic and abiotic factors within an ecosystem can rapidly collapse biodiversity. Whether on Isla Nublar or the Great Barrier Reef, the mechanism is identical — and the outcome, without intervention, is the same.

Canada 2023
PM2.5 reached 10× safe limits. ER asthma visits up 82%.
Great Barrier Reef
0.5% of ocean floor. Habitat for 30% of all marine fish species.
Passenger Pigeon
Billions → 0 in under a century. "Martha" died 1914.