A keystone species is a species that has such a large impact on the ecosystem that without it other species couldn’t survive. A famous example of how keystone species affect the ecosystem can be the influence that wolves have on Yellowstone’s biodiversity. Without wolves, the ecologic balance in the park would be compromised: their absence would result in the overpopulation of elk, which causes a decrease of the vegetation to almost nothing. Canis lupus, also known as gray wolf, is the largest member of its family: males weigh on average 43-45 kg and females 36-38.5kg. It lives in Eurasia and North America and since it is a habitat generalist, it can be found in deserts, grasslands, forests, and arctic tundras. The color of his fur can vary …show more content…
Before the reintroduction of wolves in 1995, the elk population was increasing too much, despite efforts by human to limit its growth. That provoked a drastic diminution of the vegetation, which led to a decrease of the biodiversity in the park. But in 1995, wolves started to prey upon elks and deers, which led to an increase of the vegetation. The deers started to avoid certain areas of the park, like the valleys, where wolves could track them easily. In those areas, the vegetation started to grow and the tree height quintupled in only 6 years. As soon as aspens, willow and cottonwood forests started to regenerate, bird started to repopulate the park. Also, the number of beavers started to increase; beavers use wood to create dams, which are the perfect habitat for otters, muskrats, fishes, ducks, amphibians and reptiles. The wolves also killed coyotes, which led to an increase in the population of rabbits and mices. Because of this increase, more ravens, hawks, bald eagles, foxes, weasels and badgers started to inhabit the park and feed off of the carcass left by the wolves. The bear population started to raise as well since there were more berries. Bears intensified the effect of the wolves by eating some of the calves of deer. The wolves impacted also abiotic components, like the rivers: there was less erosion, the channels narrowed and more lakes started to …show more content…
Then in 1883, new laws were introduced to protect certain species; however, wolves, bears, coyotes and other predators were not defended by those laws. Since the summer of 1886, the control of predators was left to the park’s administration and hunting of wildlife was prohibited. In 1914 the first wolves got killed and by 1926 they were extirpated from the park. The first 14 wolves were reintroduced during January 1995, and other 17 had been released in April 1996; these wolves were captured respectively from Jasper National Park and Canada. No more wolves have been imported into Yellowstone after 1996, since biologists believed that the 31 present ones would have reproduced and prayed enough to maintain the biological
One of the biggest reasons for the reintroduction of wolves back into Yellowstone was that they had originally roamed from Yellowstone all the way down to Mexico. While a lot of people were in favor of the reintroduction of the wolves, there were many who were against it. The main people who were against the reintroduction of the wolves back into the park were the ranchers who made a living in the areas surrounding the park.
This all happened because yellowstone was named one of the many rehabilitation places where the gray wolf species would recover after almost being whipt out entirely in the west of the rockies.The wolves were brought to yellowstone from another part of the country.The rehabilitation was called a success so the federal government made a ackt to tack them of the endangered species list after a so called complete recovery but the scientist said that the wolves were not yet at a point to go to the game and wildlife control so they sud the government to stop them frum taking them of the endangered species
While in the acclimation pens the wolves were fed a diet of elk and other road kill with wolves typically consuming 21 to 32 pounds of meat in a single feeding. In March of 1995, three of the packs were released in Yellowstone, but with one issue; the wolves refused to exit through the gate because they had associated it with humans, forcing the park rangers to cut a hole in the side of the enclosure for them to escape (Sanders par. 11). Once the wolves were released two of the packs left the park and set up their territory leaving only one group initially setting up inside the park.
A keystone species has a high impact on a community by keeping an ecosystem together. Most often Beavers, Bears, and Bees are just a couple of keystone species.
The number one major thing that can happen to them is when the wolves food starts to run down. When deer or elk start to de populate the wolves can run out of food. They will start to die off and move to different places. They will become more aggressive. The wolves will start to come closer to people.
Although wolves are dangerous they can also be one of your best friends. Wolves have haunted us for years, or that is at least that is what we think. To really understand wolves you have to do some research about them. But, luckily I have already done that for you. Don just kill wolves because you are afraid of them. Wolves serve a great purpose in our ecosystem. It would be a shame to see wolf population decrease as much as it did before in Yellowstone. The reintroduction of wolves has affected the Yellowstone ecosystem in many ways, there will be contributions from wolves that we will not see until a long time.
The authors eventually discuss the Yellowstone experiment and share their research results. They focus on the northern winter range which is a large mountain terrain that mostly occurs within the northeastern area of Yellowstone National Park. Here, the authors took into consideration annual precipitation and even the average depth of snowpacks. After looking to historical data for the northern range of Yellowstone, Ripple and Beschta evaluated recruitment on aspen and cottonwood over the last two centuries and found that the extirpation of wolves allowed elk to browse unimpeded during winter months. After going over data from Yellowstone after wolf
Around the world, there are thousands of wildlife animals. Gray Wolves are one type of them; their small domestic animals that are very fast, move in packs, and hunt deer and other animals for food. Despite the fact that Gray Wolves hunt deer, they are helpful animals to the ecosystem. Gray Wolves keep the ecosystem’s movement in check. They actually help the environment more than hurt it. They can be as friendly like dogs if raised from pups. They’re very interesting animals and it should be illegal to hunt them because they are almost extinct, they keep the prey population in check, and are unique animals trying to survive.
Created in 1872 by the department of the Interior, the park was developed by congress for preservation of its "natural curiosities or wonders and prohibiting wanton destruction of its fish and game" (defenders). Wolves were protected in Yellowstone.
A keystone species is a species that has a disproportionate effect on its environment relative to its abundance. Such an organism plays a role in its ecosystem that is analogous to the role of a keystone in an arch. While the keystone feels the least pressure of any of the stones in an arch, the arch still collapses without it. Similarly, an ecosystem may experience a dramatic shift if a keystone species is removed, even though that species was a small part of the ecosystem by measures of biomass or productivity. It has become a very popular concept in conservation biology.
During the 1940’s, wolves were exterminated from Colorado and few have come back since. As a result the ecosystem that we have in Colorado is somewhat skewed due to the absence of them. Many people think that wolves are a nuisance and would get in the way of the agricultural style that colorado has. However, wolves are considered a keystone species which means their “presence would reinvigorate the natural order” (clifford). For this reason wolves should be reintroduced into montezuma county. The reintroduction would greatly benefit and restore the balance of our ecosystem.
When the wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National park, the wolves’ prey decreased in populations, and the producers had increases in population. In The Importance of Predators, the Yellowstone Case, it shows that the Yellowstone valley had birds, bison, and beavers 150 years ago. Then in 1995, wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone after being killed in the 1930’s. These wolves ate animals such as the bison, whose population was starting to vanish in Yellowstone. This shows that due to the wolves’ reintroduction, bison was lost, which was one of the wolves’ main prey. Another piece of evidence is that the beaver population increased vastly during the wolves’ reintroduction in 1995. Beavers, which are not wolf prey, need willow trees
Wolves have successfully re-established a population in the rocky mountains. According to source #6 the wolf population in the northern rocky mountains has gone from only 100 in 1995 to 1,700 in 2010. This shows that after being reintroduced to yellowstone the population is 17 times larger than what it was when it was re-introduced. This has all happened since wolves stopped being federally
The relocation of wolves to Yellowstone National Park is a bad thing. The wolves are gray, they have fangs, and they are very vicious, and fierce. They live in Yellowstone National Park, where the forest is. The way wolves eat is by hunting in packs. They are on the endangered species list because people sometimes hunt for wolves instead of hunting for deer or elk. A lot of wolves died from people hunting them and that’s why wolves are on the endangered species list. Wolves can also get very dangerous and evil if anything gets in their way, and that’s why the relocation of wolves is basically a bad thing.
Out hunting their human counterparts and scaring passerby, the grey wolf has long been considered a menace. As a predator, many people refuse to view them as a creature to be protected and in an attempt to reduce their population, Congress declared open season on their species, leading their almost being hunted nearly to extinction. At their lowest point, they numbered in at about 1,400 (Center for Biological Diversity); a fraction of their earliest numbers. As an endangered species there are a few programs put in place whose purpose is to maintain/swell the numbers of Canis Lupus in their old regions (Iowa, Wisconsin, and Utah). These programs included the Center for Biological Diversity, the Human Society and the Endangered Species Association. The mandate that allowed the gray