yellowstone wolves case study

docx

School

Ohio State University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

2100

Subject

Anthropology

Date

Dec 6, 2023

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by MinisterSnakeMaster2139

Name: ________________________________ Date: _________________ PD: ________ Introducing a Predator When Yellowstone National Park was created in 1872, Northern Rocky Mountain wolves ( Canis lupus ) were native to the ecosystem. By the 1920s however, Yellowstone’s ecosystem was severely altered by the extirpation of wolves due to government predator control programs that permitted all wolves in Yellowstone Park to be killed. The removal of wolf predators that occurred in the 1920s allowed for an increase in populations of herbivorous species such as the elk. Beginning in the 1920s, after the complete removal of wolves from Yellowstone, elk foraged the northern winter range of the park without fear of a predator. Though wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone Park in 1995 and 1996, approximately 70 years of damage to the ecosystem was already done. Ripple and Beschta collected data on wolf and elk populations from 1993 until 2006. Their data is shown in the graphs below. Graph A shows the number of wolves in Yellowstone, and graph B shows the number of elk in thousands. 1) Write a sentence to describe the pattern you observe in the data from graphs A and B. When the wolves began to dwindle and be taken out, the elk population began to skyrocket. 2) Why were elk populations so high before 1995? Because they had no predators to worry about.

3) How did the reintroduction of wolves affect the elk population? Why do you think this happened? This happened because of the fact that the balance of the ecosystem was no more, and there were no predators to keep that balance. 4) Write a statement that best describes the relationship between the wolf and elk populations. The wolf population hunts down the elk population for food causing the elk population to not become overpopulated. Ripple and Beschta added a third set of data that showed the measurements of young aspen heights in centimeters from 1998 to 2006.

Write a sentence to describe the pattern in data you observe from graphs A, B, & C, and include the keyword “Keystone Species” All the Keystone Species listed are a part of their environment graph(A) wolves’ population decreased when being taken out of the park. This caused graph(b) elk’s population to increase of the fact that there were no more predators. Graph(c) Aspen on the other hand to gradually going up in population because of the new balance. 5) Why did the height of young aspen begin to increase around the year 2000? Because of the population being evened out in size and predators and prey. 6) Write a statement that describes the relationship between elk and aspen. The Elk fed on the aspen trees. 7) How did the reintroduction of wolves affect aspen height? The reintroduction of wolves allowed the aspen to grow more.

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

yellowstone wolves case study

Related Documents