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Resources ≀ Trophic Cascade

Status and Ecological Effects of the World’s Largest Carnivores

Posted on August 29, 2021

Large carnivores face serious threats and are experiencing massive declines in their populations and geographic ranges around the world. We highlight how these threats have affected the conservation status and ecological functioning of the 31 largest mammalian carnivores on Earth. … read more

Posted in Trophic Cascade

Outsized effect of predation: Wolves alter wetland creation and recolonization by killing ecosystem engineers

Posted on November 30, 2020

Gray wolves are a premier example of how predators can transform ecosystems through trophic cascades. However, whether wolves change ecosystems as drastically as previously suggested has been increasingly questioned. We demonstrate how wolves alter wetland creation and recolonization by killing … read more

Posted in Trophic Cascade

Population responses of common ravens to reintroduced gray wolves

Posted on November 30, 2020

Top predators have cascading effects throughout the food web, but their impacts on scavenger abundance are largely unknown. Gray wolves (Canis lupus) provide carrion to a suite of scavenger species, including the common raven (Corvus corax). Ravens are wide‐ranging and … read more

Posted in Trophic Cascade | Tagged Canis lupus, common raven, Corvus corax, gray wolf, scavenger, Yellowstone National Park

Wolves, Moose, and Tree Rings on Isle Royale

Posted on October 27, 2020

Investigation of tree growth in Isle Royale National Park in Michigan revealed the influence of herbivores and carnivores on plants in an intimately linked food chain. Plant growth rates were regulated by cycles in animal density and responded to annual … read more

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Wolves, trophic cascades, and rivers in the Olympic National Park, USA

Posted on October 27, 2020

Gray wolves (Canis lupus) were extirpated in the early 1900s from the Olympic Peninsula of northwestern Washington. Thus, we studied potential cascading effects of wolf removal by undertaking a retrospective study of Roosevelt elk (Cervus elaphus) populations, riparian forests, and … read more

Posted in Trophic Cascade | Tagged channel morphology, elk, riparian plant communities, trophic cascades, wolves

Tall willow thickets return to northern Yellowstone

Posted on May 31, 2020

Northern Yellowstone National Park provides an example of passive restoration, as wetlands and riparian areas there lost most tall willows in the 20th century, due to intensive herbivory by elk (Cervus canadensis). Following large carnivore restoration in the late 1990s, … read more

Posted in Trophic Cascade | Tagged bison, browsing, Cervus canadensis, passive restoration, Salix, sandbar willow, tall willows, trophic cascade, ungulate herbivory, yellowstone

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Wolfwatcher

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Canadian doc 'Nature's Big Year' shows how wildlife has adapted during the pandemictinyurl.com/2se6f5rwTORONTO — When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, wildlife ecologist Jason Fisher and his colleagues at the University of Victoria predicted there would be fewer people in nature and that animals would take back their territory.a day ago.TORONTO — When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, wildlife ecologist Jason Fisher and his colleagues at the University of Victoria predicted there would be fewer people in nature and that animals would take back their territory.But in setting up cameras in the forest of Alberta's scenic Bighorn Backcountry, they found human activity actually increased in the area, as adventure-seekers who couldn't travel abroad flocked to the woods to reconnect with nature during lockdown.As viewers see in the documentary "Nature's Big Year," debuting Friday on "The Nature of Things" on CBC TV and CBC Gem, Fisher and the team of scientists also discovered coyote and white-tailed deer roaming the area more.That wasn't surprising, since those animals generally have a positive association with humans and have been shown to thrive when they're around.What the team didn't expect was that wolves shifted their activity from nighttime to daytime to follow prey there, despite the region's influx of people.That's significant because changes in wolf activity have a cascading effect on wildlife, said the experts."It was that big flexibility in wolves that was a really big 'aha' moment for us, because it's not something we'd seen before," Fisher said in a phone interview, guessing the wolves sensed the campers wouldn't hurt them."Nature's Big Year" by Toronto-based director-writer-producer Christine Nielsen features several groups of researchers in Canada and around the globe who embraced a unique opportunity to study the human footprint on nature.That includes a look at how empty beaches affected nesting turtles in Florida, how a drop in U.K. traffic decreased hedgehog roadkill and how ozone levels actually increased in some areas.Nicola Koper, a conservation biologist at the University of Manitoba, was part of a team that investigated how 82 bird species across North America responded to changes in human activity during lockdown.She said they were amazed to find 80 per cent of those species changed their habitat use during the pandemic.For instance, bald eagles migrated from counties that had fewer lockdowns to those with the strongest lockdowns and the least traffic. And some species increased their presence near roads and airports when travel lessened.Koper said while traffic levels in North America dropped during the lockdown period they studied, it wasn't as much as some may think, suggesting that even a small reduction can make a big impact.She was also surprised to find that species widely believed to be well-adapted to humans changed their habits, too. For instance, there were more American robins near airports and roads. "Clearly they had been displaced from these areas before," Koper said. "We've got these really common species that we have always assumed are fine with humans. But actually, now we know that's not quite true."Overall, the findings suggest wildlife "are actually much more sensitive to human activity than we realized before," Koper added.Nielsen said she wrote, directed and produced the film during three different waves of COVID in 11 different locations, including five provinces in Canada. For the stories that weren't in Canada, she directed remotely by videoconference. She was surprised how "wildlife can adapt so incredibly quickly to changes in human behaviour." "I think we all intuitively know that if we do something differently, wildlife will respond. But in many cases, wildlife responds overnight."In Bighorn Backcountry, the grizzly bear proved much less tolerant of the increased campers than wolves.Fisher said grizzlies moved from the lower foothills to the mountains where there were fewer people, and showed a strong aversion to roads, something scientists didn't see pre-COVID.The findings point to a need to manage our impact as more Canadians flock to nature during the pandemic, he said."Suddenly with lockdown — this is a really poignant part of it — we realized: 'Oh, wow, our tourist footprint is really, really high,'" Fisher said.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2021.Victoria Ahearn, The Canadian Press ... See MoreSee Less

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#GivingTuesday ---> Click to Donate ---> wolfwatcher.org/donate/If you are here then you know all the bad things happening to Wolves right now. Do you know how hard all of the Wolfwatcher staff works to bring you news and participate in wolf conservation? Here are some facts and good reasons why you should donate to National Wolfwatcher Coalition on #GivingTuesday. wolfwatcher.org/donate/*We have a dedicated volunteer team that brings you the news and urgent action alerts for wolves on our Facebook page and at Wolfwatcher.org where you’ll find loads of educational articles and facts about wolves all over the world. They also cover Instagram, many Pinterest boards, and Twitter. *Wolfwatcher has been persistent in fighting for wolves. In the months that followed delisting, we joined the formal petition to restore protections for Northern Rocky wolves. USFWS believes the petition has merit, due to human threats and opened a public comment period, which will remain open for a few more weeks. To comment go to www.regulations.gov/document/FWS-HQ-ES-2021-0106-0001 *With delisting, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan began the process to update their wolf management plans. Although Wolfwatcher was not selected to serve on the committees, we have provided comments for each of the Michigan meetings. We will let you know when the plans are open for public comment. *We have participated in several conferences, including Sedona Week and the Anishinaabek Caucus. *Wolfwatcher was one of just 5 organizations that worked diligently over 9 months to create several documents to promote wolf conservation and stewardship in the United States, based on the best science, democratic processes and inclusivity, and ethics. These documents can be found at www.wolfplanning dot org *Every two weeks, Wolfwatcher participates in a conference call with other like-minded organizations to learn what is happening around the country and what can be done to advocate for wolves. *This past fall, Wolfwatcher awarded two grants, each in the amount of $1000 to the Voyageurs Wolf Project and Trap Free Montana. *We Submitted several Freedom of Information Act requests, one that lead to a press release calling for the resignation of a Natural Resources Commissioner www.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/michigan-wildlife-official-cries-wolf-gray-wolf-advoc...Regulations.govregulations.govwww.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/michigan-wildlife-official-cries-wolf-gray-wolf-advoc... ... See MoreSee Less

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Resources ≀ Trophic Cascade

Status and Ecological Effects of the World’s Largest Carnivores

Outsized effect of predation: Wolves alter wetland creation and recolonization by killing ecosystem engineers

Population responses of common ravens to reintroduced gray wolves

Wolves, Moose, and Tree Rings on Isle Royale

Wolves, trophic cascades, and rivers in the Olympic National Park, USA

Tall willow thickets return to northern Yellowstone

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