Wolf Reintroduction Changes Ecosystem Yellowstone wolves are causing a trophic cascade of ecological change, including helping to increase beaver populations and bring back aspen, and vegetation. On a spring morning, a resounding "Slap!" reverberates through the air above a remote stream leading to Lake Yellowstone. Over much of the past century, it has been a rarely heard noise in the soundscape that is Yellowstone National Park, but today is growing more common-the sound of a beaver slapping its tail on the water as a warning to other beavers. When the grey wolf was , there was only one beaver colony in the park, said Doug Smith, a wildlife biologist in charge of the Yellowstone Wolf Project. Today, the park is home to nine beaver colonies, with the promise of more to come, as the reintroduction of wolves continues to astonish biologists with a ripple of direct and indirect consequences throughout the ecosystem. A flourishing beaver population is just one of those consequences, said Smith. A Yellowstone Beaver's Tale of Elk What happened, said Smith, is that the presence of wolves triggered a still-unfolding cascade effect among animals and plants-one that will take decades of research to understand. "It is like kicking a pebble down a mountain slope where conditions were just right that a falling pebble could trigger an avalanche of change," Smith mused. So how did this avalanche of change work out for the beaver?
Wolf Reintroduction Changes Ecosystem Yellowstone wolves are causing a trophic cascade of ecological change, including helping to increase beaver populations and bring back aspen, and vegetation. On a spring morning, a resounding "Slap!" reverberates through the air above a remote stream leading to Lake Yellowstone. Over much of the past century, it has been a rarely heard noise in the soundscape that is Yellowstone National Park, but today is growing more common-the sound of a beaver slapping its tail on the water as a warning to other beavers. When the grey wolf was , there was only one beaver colony in the park, said Doug Smith, a wildlife biologist in charge of the Yellowstone Wolf Project. Today, the park is home to nine beaver colonies, with the promise of more to come, as the reintroduction of wolves continues to astonish biologists with a ripple of direct and indirect consequences throughout the ecosystem. A flourishing beaver population is just one of those consequences, said Smith. A Yellowstone Beaver's Tale of Elk What happened, said Smith, is that the presence of wolves triggered a still-unfolding cascade effect among animals and plants-one that will take decades of research to understand. "It is like kicking a pebble down a mountain slope where conditions were just right that a falling pebble could trigger an avalanche of change," Smith mused. So how did this avalanche of change work out for the beaver?
Wolf%20Reintroduction%20Changes%20Ecosystem.docx