protect the wolves, wolves, yellowstone wolves, sacred resource protection zone

Yellowstone Changed in Ways We Never Predicted with Gray Wolf Reintroduction

In Protect The Wolves, Sacred Resource Protection Zone, Sacred Species by Twowolves1 Comment

Wolves for Yellowstone: dynamics in time and space | Journal of Mammalogy |
Yellowstone wolves have made some amazing changes within an ecosystem that is being needlessly targeted by Ranchers and Trophy Hunters in the states surrounding Yellowstone National Park. Our Children’s Resources being wolves, grizzlies, bison to name a few are in dire need of our proposed “Sacred Resource Protection Zone“.

By Mark S Boyce
Journal of Mammalogy, Volume 99, Issue 5, 10 October 2018, Pages 1021–1031,https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyy115
Published:
26 September 2018
The reintroduction of gray wolves (Canis lupus) to Yellowstone National Park is the most celebrated ecological experiment in history. As predicted by population models, the rapid recovery of a wolf population caused both temporal and spatial variability in wolf–ungulate interactions that likewise generated temporal and spatial variation in the expression of trophic cascades. This has amplified spatial variation in vegetation in Yellowstone, particularly with willow (Salix spp.) and cottonwood (Populus spp.) in riparian areas, with associated changes in food webs. Increasing influences of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos), cougars (Puma concolor), and bison (Bison bison) are making what initially was predominantly an elk–wolf interaction into an increasingly complex system. Outside Yellowstone, however, humans have a dominant influence in western North America that overwhelms trophic cascades resulting in what appear to be bottom-up influences on community structure and function. Complex and unexpected ecosystem responses to wolf recovery in Yellowstone reinforce the value of national parks and other protected areas as ecological baseline reserves.
bison, Canis lupus, Cervus elaphus, ecological modeling, elk, hunting, predator–prey dynamics, trophic cascades, wolf, Yellowstone National Park
Issue Section:

Merriam Award Paper

Source: Wolves for Yellowstone: dynamics in time and space | Journal of Mammalogy | Oxford Academic

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