The Role Of Wolves In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

Predators/prey relationships play a big role in animal populations. If the balance between predators and prey is changed, populations are changed. The white- tailed deer populations in some areas has grown too large because there are no natural predators.

Wolves have always been a symbol of the wild, free in spirit and roamers of the land. These animals are considered majestic and protectors of the wilderness. They have always roamed the western United States, although their population has fluctuated over time. Over the past 10 years wolf reintroduction into Yellowstone National Park has been a controversial topic to those of the United States. As of 1995, wolves have been reintroduced into the park. This has come with some strong opposition and yet has prevailed. The future of the wolf in Yellowstone park is now looking bright, although not certain since there still are those who want them banished again.

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.

While highly controversial, the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone Park has provided many beneficial ecological changes to the entire parks ecosystem. After a nearly 70 year absence, in January of 1995, 14 wolves from separate packs were captured in the Canadian Rockies and transported to Yellowstone National Park in the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho (Sanders par. 2).

Yellowstone National Park, untamed wild beauty. Stunning landscapes, beautiful waterfalls and rivers, breathtaking wildlife, and geothermal activity all come together to make Yellowstone an amazing place. People come from all over the world to witness the beauty of Yellowstone. It is a regulated national park for a reason, it is so amazing, so beautiful, so spectacular to not preserve it. It hosts bison, elk, deer, bald eagles, bears, moose, beavers, and amazing trout rivers, everything a perfect mountain ecosystem should hold. However now there is something else, something that is natural, was removed but has now returned, flourishing and benefiting its surroundings. Wolves, have been reintroduced into Yellowstone and have greatly benefited the area. These wolves have started a positive and beneficial renewal in the park. The reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park is beneficial because they created and natural and beneficial trophic cascade, other animals in the park benefited from the wolves, and because the land was able to regrow and flourish due to the wolves’ presence.

Gauss’ Law states that no two organisms can occupy the same ecological niche without excluding the other, but what happens when man gets involved with nature and tries to introduce a species where it doesn’t belong which in turn provides a second organism to fill the same niche as the first? The results of human intervention have often been disastrous for the organism that we’re supposedly helping. Humans often times do not understand the complexity of the implications that are caused directly through our intervention. In 1974, the gray wolf was listed on the Endangered Species List, and in an effort to reestablish their populations, wolves were re-introduced into Yellowstone

I think the wolf reintroduction to yellowstone was a big sixes and i am all for the reaintrowduckshon into yellowstone nashenol parck.

There are many rules that are ordered by the Game and Fish Commissions. For example, the amount of tags a hunter is given to kill a certain type of animal. This means that by law they are only allowed to kill no more than that number. In Arkansas, hunters only get two buck deer tags. (AGFC) The amount of tags helps the Game and Fish keep the populations alive and not going extinct. Although PETA thinks hunters are just killers, they repopulate species just as much. There are many hunters that capture animals to breed. Once they breed, Wildlife Officers relocate them to a safe area where that animal is stable to live. A statistic shows that in 1900, 100,000 wild turkeys remained, as of right now there are over 7 million. (Hunters against PETA) However, the growing population can become a threat in many instances. Female Deer (does) are over populated in Arkansas. I think any driver should know that by the amount of dead deer on the highway that has been hit. Situations such as this one can hurt or cause damage to people. Since I am quite familiar with black bears, I know how dangerous an animal can be. Every year, people die from animal attacks. If these animals were not killed, there is no telling how many more deaths we would

After some research humans seem to be the biggest concern to the depletion of wolves because of over trapping and poaching. The only thing to do is put wolves on the endangered species list and set strict rules and regulations so wolves are not threatened. Due to the placement of the Endangered Species Act wolves are now able to begin to replenish back to a normal population size. Wolves should remain on the endangered species list until their population size begins to become

When herbivorous species such as white-tailed deer and elks are the main predators in a habitat, they create an imbalance in the habitat, and force other species in the habitat to go extinct. Natural predation also has a stronger impact in stabilizing or reducing the population of white-tailed deer than human hunting alone. One of the main reasons for the overpopulation of the deer was the extinction of their predators. Every animal in the food web is highly important in keeping the balance in the ecosystem. Yellowstone National Park was a great example of how every species support the

One of the most legendary creatures of the northern hemisphere is the wolf. One of the most popular places to spot a wolf safely is Yellowstone national park. But, the wolf is one of the most feared creature as well therefore the wolf was starting to be killed and removed in the early 1800s from Yellowstone. By 1926 they were all gone from Yellowstone national park. then some wolf lovers decided to take a stand and make sure that wolves would be put back into the park because its apart of the culture of the wolves. Many rancher think this was a horrible idea because of their livestock. But it is a good idea because Yellowstone national park could potentially be saved because fo these beautiful creatures. It could also help the economy around the area. it would also help because it would give scientists an opportunity to study what happens when a preditor returns to the area.

The area of Yellowstone National Park has a long history of inhabitants, even before it became the nation’s first national park. In the area now known as Yellowstone National Park, wolves were once very prominent. However due to westward expansion in the 1800s, agriculture began to increase. This led to the wolves that once thrived in this area to being practically completely removed. The increase in agriculture in this region led to a lot of the wolves’ prey becoming reduced or eliminated. Since the wolves had a decrease in prey, the wolves began to prey on domestic animals, which then resulted in humans eliminating the wolves almost completely. By the 1930s the wolf was eliminated from the area. This was before people had an understanding of how ecosystems work and the interrelation of species. Now that the wolves were gone, elk then became overpopulated. A lot of the vegetation began to disappear as well due to the overgrazing of the elk. However after about a 70-year absence, in 1995 the wolves were carefully brought back to Yellowstone. When they brought the wolves back to the park, there was not just an effect on one species or one area but rather they affected the entire ecosystem of the area. I will discuss their effects on areas such elk, beaver colonies, scavengers, aspen trees, willow trees and cottonwood trees.

According to the documentary, “How Wolves Change Rivers”, wolves were eliminated from Yellowstone National Park for about 70 years until being reintroduced in 1995. They were killed by hunters and tourists at first because it was legal, to the point where there was none left, even though they were so beneficial to the environment that they changed rivers from the effect that they changed populations of some animal species by hunting them. However, humans hunting would be able to do the same job as wolves, which is too hunt for a specific species to balance the ecosystem and, like the wolves, change rivers in the aspect that the forests which were regenerated would stabilize the banks of rivers. To add, some people would agree that removing wolves from Yellowstone National Park was a good idea to balance animal populations and keep animals away from specific areas of the park, but I disagree because I believe humans would be able to control these populations by hunting for the proper species according to the food chain. To paraphrase, in the documentary wolves killed deer because they overpopulated the ecosystem, leaving almost no vegetation. This hunting by the wolves had later affected the environment as the population of birds

In Yellowstone they should not kill them because we need Yellowstone's animals. They kill wolves in other parts of the state but we should still keep these ones. They deserve a safer place after being hunted almost to being extinct. These animals should be safe not be killed. So i think we would have to keep the wolves in Yellowstone, and that is the wolves home, they have also been living there for a long time. It would sure feel different to not have them living there anymore so that’s why we should not kill them,for these many reasons.

People claim that they kill to keep balance but there are 7 billion people in the world, don't you think that could use some "population balance"? In an article from Scientific American, it states "He adds that, despite hunters’ claims that hunting keeps wildlife populations in balance, hunters’ license fees are used to “manipulate a few game [target] species into overpopulation at the expense of a much larger number of non-game species, resulting in the loss of biological diversity, genetic integrity, and ecological balance.” Almost 46 million turkeys are eaten on Thanksgiving, reducing our population each year. We play a valuable part in your environment, why on Earth would you kill a valuable piece to keeping your environment in good