In “Scared to Death” by Ed Yong and Sharon Levy’s “Wolf Family Values,” we read about the need to protect the population of wolves in North America. These two articles have very different ways to go about this. Ed Yong talks about the wolf effects on elk as well as the rest of the environment. Levy’s approach is about wolf social structure and how it is impacted by hunting. Both of these make some valid points on why more conservation efforts should be made; however, I believe Ed Yong made the stronger case. Ed Yong makes very valid points on how the wolves of Yellowstone have impacted the overly populated elk herds. He has this to say about the herds; “Today the population stands at just over 6,000 down from 19,000 in the elk’s wolf-free heyday,” (ll57). This might seem like a terrible drop in the elk’s numbers, but it is actually a good thing. Yong tells us, “The large deer had run amok in the wolf-free decades, causing serious damage to the park’s trees,” (ll5-6). So in reality, while there are far less elk now, the trees can start to build back up again. With the wolves being back in Yellowstone there has been a much larger effect on the ecosystem than on just the elk. Since the saplings …show more content…
She makes her argument based on the wolf social structure. She says, “…the fact that the hunting of wolves warps their social structure, ripping apart the family ties and traditions that define wolf society,” (ll17-18). She says that by killing wolves, we are also destroying a family bond that is much like ours. She also says that killing wolves endangers the future of the pack. The late Gordon Haber summed it up best. Levy says, “Building on this insight, Haber argued that older wolves pass knowledge down to younger pack members, and that human hunting disrupts this natural order,” (ll24-25). By killing the older members, hunting might have had a devastating effect on how well wolves are able to
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.
“Restoring an ecologically complete ecosystem in Yellowstone requires the return of willows--and with them, beavers. There's a clear threshold for ecosystem recovery. Willow stands must be more than 6 feet tall, the scientists found. That height is important, says Marshall. Then willows are beyond the reach of browsing elk, and can serve as seed sources for new young willows. Once willows have returned, beavers will gnaw down a certain number of them to build dams. The dams will further slow stream flow, allowing yet more willows to grow. The results offer new insights on the role of wolf-driven trophic cascades in the Yellowstone ecosystem, says Hobbs. Trophic cascades like that in Yellowstone occur when predators--or the lack thereof--in an ecosystem change the abundance or alter traits of their prey, in turn affecting the next lower trophic level.” ("National Science Foundation", 2013)
Wolf recovery would be a big step in maintaining wildlife. For instance, in Yellowstone a
The wolves being reintroduced to yellowstone was a big change and it made the ecosystem swing right back from that overpopulation of elk and lack of plants that was devastating the ecosystem in yellowstone.But if the wolves weren't reaintrowdust then the elk would have grazed the grass so much that the grass would not be able to regenerate which would make it diy and send a chain of effects into moshun.Like the plans would all diy and make the ruts dry which would mack the ground unstable because there would not be any ruts to hold the soil in place and it would be a vay big dust bowl all over again.The other one happened because of over farming but yellowstone was not fare
-Wolves helped to maintain exploding number of deer and elk that were hurting biodiversity in the park.
The reintroduction of the wolves will attract more tourism to national parks. "A survey of visitors to Yellowstone National Park conducted by John Duffield of the University of Montana from 2004 to 2006 found that more than 150,000 people from all over the world come to the park each year specifically because of wolves" (defenders.org). The increase in tourist will increase the number of jobs and money communities earn. Wolf-related tourism brings in $35.5 million annually to Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, stimulating economic activity through local communities. With the increase of tourism, money, and jobs they will then lead to a better economy. The United States has made an income of over $70 million in 2013, which has greatly helped their economy. With the reintroduction of the wolves, the United States makes over $70 million in just one year, has increased the amount of jobs, and tourist around the
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
Wolves were first banned in the early decades of the 1900s, and since then the elk population has been testing their limits with their boundries, and where their supossed to go. they have been using the
Whitetail deer have come to be known as a keystone species, species known for affecting other organisms in an ecosystem. Deer are known as a keystone species in forest habitats such as in the Eastern United States because they are capable of destroying potential forest habitat of other organisms (McShea and Rappole, 1992). For example, deer have a negative impact on forest ecosystems by trampling and over browsing over vegetation, without creating any habitat for other native species. Throughout the eastern United States, the abundance of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) has increased dramatically over the last century (Taggart and Long, 2015). Population increases could be due to increased habitat fragmentation from land development, reduced predators and/or hunting pressure. Individual deer ranges varied during seasonal times, deer movements are usually greatest during the peak breeding months from late fall through winter (Williams et. al, 2012). Regardless of the cause, high deer densities can have significant effects on plant communities such as plant decay and/or even death. Deer consume a large amounts of plant biomass (leaves, buds, flowers and fruits) and directly reduce the growth, reproduction, and survival of herbaceous and woody plant species (Shen et. al, 2016). The impacts of white-tailed deer on forests along the Eastern United
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 National Park, scientists have been carefully documenting the impacts of wolves on the ecosystem, noting many changes for the better since reintroduction, (Berger et al. 2008; Beschta and Ripple 2010). As the ecosystem depends on the Gray Wolf to properly function predation, the wolves also regulate distribution and group size of each species, which impacts overall native biodiversity. Wolves primarily prey on large hoofed mammals such as deers, elk and moose. By preying on the most vulnerable (diseased, young, old, weak or injured) individuals, wolves can help keep prey populations more healthy and strong, (Carbyn
This essay will cover 3 main points. The first point is what kind of wolves will you find in Canada, and a brief description of different names and what they look like. My Second point will cover what issues wolves are facing in canada today, because wolves are becoming and already are extinct as i’m writing this essay, this point will tell you why they are becoming extinct, and why it is hard for them to move forward and become larger, and not become extinct. My third point will cover what important wolves have to the first nations, including spiritual beliefs and what they mean to the first nations.
In 1924 because of a “government policy the federal government deliberately killed all the wolf packs” in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. This policy was passed because of the lack of knowledge and fear. These animals have been a scapegoat throughout human history. But what happens when we take a large predatory animal out of the ecosystem; when we keep the big bad wolf from doing its part in the environment.
finally after 70 years they bring back wolves to yellowstone. The wolves quickly repopulated yellowstone. they kept the balance of animals such as: deer, moose,