~ Mother Earthbeats ~

Have you ever wondered the role of the Wolf in the Balance of Nature? The Creator placed everything on this planet for a reason. There are important roles to be played out by each and every creature from the tiniest microbe and insect, to the largest mammal. As intelligent beings on this Living planet, it is our responsibility to learn and understand how to nurture this Balance in Nature, and not destroy it. The Wolf has an important role and is Sacred to the Creator. My love for wolves has led me down many paths. Most recently I found an interesting article about the relation between Wolves and Trees, and I would like to share this with you. Please note that this is simply one small example of how the Wolf fits into the ecosystem.

‘Wolves linked to tree recovery’
By MIKE STARK

Reintroduced wolves appear to be playing a major role in the resurgence of streamside trees and shrubs in certain portions of in Yellowstone National Park, according to two new studies by scientists at Oregon State University.

When wolves were absent from the park, from the 1920s until the mid-1990s, elk grazed heavily and repeatedly on young cottonwoods, aspen and willows. Since wolves have returned, the elk have been forced to be more mobile, which has meant easing up on certain feeding spots.

“Wolves are the top of the food chain,” Bill Ripple, an OSU forestry professor who has been studying aspen and other species in Yellowstone since 1997, said Tuesday. “Wolves affect elk and elk affect species like aspen.”

In recent years, young cottonwoods and willows have been especially robust in areas where elk may have once browsed but now feel the threat of wolves, including places where they have few ways to escape, Ripple said.

“If they’re boxed in against a canyon wall or a cutbank on a river — those seemed to be the places which are showing more growth,” Ripple said.

Meanwhile, low-risk sites for elk are still being consumed and show little growth, according to the studies.

The findings of the studies were recently published in the journals Ecological Applications and Forest Ecology and Management.

The idea behind the studies is to examine the effect that wolves are having in the Yellowstone ecosystem beyond simple predation on elk and other prey.

“With the restoration of wolves in Yellowstone, for the first time we have the full suite of top carnivores,” Ripple said. “That is a grand experiment for us to take notice of what the connections are between different animals and plants.”

Ripple acknowledged that the results of the studies are still “somewhat preliminary” because wolves have only been back in Yellowstone since 1995. Still, researchers say it’s hard to ignore the hypothesis that there’s a strong connection between the return of wolves and the revival of certain plants and trees.

“The data show a clear and remarkable linkage between the presence of wolves and the health of an entire streamside ecosystem,” said an announcement from OSU about the studies.

In some areas on wintering range for elk, researchers found hundreds of short cottonwood seedlings among cottonwoods that were 70 years old or older, but very few trees that had not been chewed off before they passed the seedling stage.

“Long-term elk browsing has been preventing any seedling from getting taller,” Robert Beschta, a forestry professor emeritus at OSU, said about one area along the Lamar River.

Scientists said they were able to see a clear connection between the removal of wolves in late 1800s and early 1900s and a decline in species such as cottonwoods and aspen.

“I considered a variety of potential reasons that might explain the historical decline of cottonwoods that began in the 1920s and have continued up to the last couple of years,” Beschta said in a statement Tuesday. “I looked at climate change, lack of floods, fire suppression, natural stand dynamics, and numbers of elk. But none of those factors really explained the problem. Ultimately, it became clear that wolves were the answer.”

Without fear of wolves, the elk were allowed to browse anywhere they liked for decades, the scientists said. Killing off cottonwoods, willows and other streamside shrubs allowed for increased erosion and effects on birds, insects and other wildlife, they said.

“Before the wolves came back, it was pretty clear that in some areas we were heading toward an outright extinction of cottonwoods,” Beschta said.

Streamside shrubs and cottonwoods in places such as the Lamar Valley have rebounded since the reintroduction of wolves, growing taller and becoming more prevalent, the scientists said.

“There’s this domino effect from wolves to elk to trees,” Ripple said.

The OSU researchers caution that their studies aren’t an encompassing look at Yellowstone and the effects of wolves, but it is an indication that the wolves appear to have stopped a major decline in the survival rates of cottonwoods and willows.

“One point that should not be missed is this is actually great news for the potential recovery of cottonwood trees and mature willows in Yellowstone National Park,” Ripple said. “We now have a pretty good idea why they were in decline and the return of wolves should help pave the way for their recovery. Even though it may take a very long time, for a change it looks
like we’re headed in the right direction.”

Please Visit Defenders of Wildlife to learn more facts about the Wolf and how you can help