Confirm that the simulation has been reset by checking that the Time Elapsed box to the right of the Control Panel reads “0 Years”. 8 Click the STEP 50 button on the Control Panel, and the simulation will run for 50 years and automatically stop. Watch the graph to confirm that the size of the moose population changes dramatically when the moose first arrive, and then eventually stabilizes (levels out). ← You can adjust how fast the simulation runs with the SPEED slider to the right of the control panel. 9 Once 50 years have passed (model years — not real years!), examine the moose population graph and answer the questions below.…
Wolves Clayton Hull-Crew wrote an editorial on the US-Represented website reflecting on the reintroduction of wolves into the Yellowstone National Park. Hull-Crew states that the wolves have been responsible for a major ecological shift beginning at the top of the food chain, slowly making its way to the bottom, effecting everything from beaver dams to river bed erosion. Hull-Crew claims that the wolves have created what is called a “Trophic Cascade” of events. A Trophic cascade is, “an ecological phenomenon triggered by the addition or removal of top predators and involving reciprocal changes in the relative populations of predator and prey through a food chain, which often results in dramatic changes in ecosystem structure and nutrient cycling.…
Systems, or networks of interdependent components, function in cycles, so each component or element of the cycle can influence another. Feedback loops are the increase (positive loops) or decrease (negative loops) in a process or component and the fluctuation of any element of the cycle with affect the whole. Different loops interact within ecosystems and create what is referred to as “dynamic equilibrium.” In an elk population, if there is an abundance of elk being born and continuing to reproduce, it will create a healthy and large population, which is a positive feedback loop. The elk provides nutrition for people and other animals, including wolves or coyotes; so excess elk can be helpful to provide caloric energy for other animals (positive feedback loop).…
Biodiversity strengthens an ecosystem by ensuring lots of options for hungry animals, from hawks on down to rabbits article (are the everglades…
For this experiment my partner and I decided to conduct our research on the Alces alces gigas or the Alaskan Moose. The moose is the largest subspecies of deer and specifically the Alaskan Moose is the biggest subpopulation. The Alaskan moose lives and thrives in southern Alaska up to parts in northern Alaska and also parts of Canada. The Alaskan moose eats mainly grass and shrubs, but in winter changes its diet to tree shoots and pinecones. Typically, the moose is preyed upon by wolves, and both black and brown bears which go by the common name the Grizzly Bear.…
Title: Ecological Interactions of Living Organisms in Beaver Creek Statement of the Problem: How do the organisms in Beaver Creek interact with the biotic and abiotic portions of the ecosystem? The sample was taken from Beaver Creek (a tributary of Tookany Creek) in Glenside, Montgomery County, PA. The pH of the creek was 5.5, and the stream velocity was detectable (greater or equal to walking speed). In the area of collection, the stream width was one meter and the depth was 14 cm.…
Why do cats and dogs affect our ecosystem what is so bad about that? The ecosystem depends on its helpers and its destroyers to keep it balanced. The helpers are the animals such as lady bugs and spiders who make the world a better place for everyone by keeping the insect population in balance. The destroyers are the living creators such as cats and dogs that destroy the things that are not good for the environment. Too many destroyers can affect the ecosystem and make it unbalanced.…
I believe that changes to living and non -living parts of an ecosystem impact population within the habitat because if you take away or put something into an ecosystem you are affecting everything around you. Especially if you put in or take out a keystone species. Keystone species are animals that other animals rely on and need to grow. So if you take away an animal that everyone relys on you are hurting all the other animals.…
According to the article “Search for the Missing Sea Otters: An Ecological Detective Story” by Mary E. Allen and Mark L. Kuhlmann, the sea otter population has been decreasing at a rapid pace since the 1990’s in Aleutian, Alaska. This is demonstrated by article “What Could be the Cause of Decreasing Otter Numbers” which states that in 1997, the decline of the sea otter population had increased to about 90%. They hypothesize that the decrease in the sea otter population has been caused by their predator, the killer whale because the sea otter’s bodies do not come ashore. The evidence suggests that killer whales are eating the sea otters because in the text “What Predator Could be Causing the Large Decrease in Otter Numbers”…
Population Growth Lab Populations of different species interact with their environment in a myriad of ways. This may also impact the population, especially concerning its size. The question trying to be answered was how changes in the amount and nature of the plant life available in an ecosystem does, in fact, influence herbivore population growth over time. Answering this question will determine which environmental factor has the greatest impact on the population growth of herbivores. In this lab the herbivores, are rabbits, and the plant life is grass and weeds.…
In “Scared to Death”, author, Ed Yong, describes the relationship of grey wolves and elk in Yellowstone National Park. Studies conducted by John Laundre, an ecologist at the State University of New York at Oswego, reveal what they call, “a landscape of fear”. Laundre explains this term by saying, “in predator-prey relationships it’s not the actual killing that has the most influence on prey behavior- it’s living in constant fear”. Over the course of the text, Yong tries to explain how, like humans, animals too experience long-term psychological stress, which has an effect on the whole ecosystem.…
One of the most renowned rewilding projects which has demonstrated the effects rewilding has on a whole ecosystem, was the reintroduction of grey wolves (Canis lupus) into Yellowstone National Park in the North West of the United States. The wolves were reintroduced to the park in 1995-1996 and have subsequently recolonised the whole park and some of the surrounding area known as the greater Yellowstone ecosystem (GYE) (Smith et al., 2003). The reintroduction of the wolves has had a great effect on the ecosystem of Yellowstone; the wolves have greatly reduced the numbers of ungulates, especially Elk which have been found to support the wolf packs almost entirely (Smith et al., 2003). The wolves have also had an effect on many of the other organisms…
Native species also reach their range of tolerance in terms of predators. Thus we can see a predator-prey relationship disruption here which results in extinction of one species, and grow of other-…
Annotated Bibliography Derocher, Andrew E., Nicholas J. Lunn, and Ian Stirling. " Polar Bears in a Warming Climate1. " Integrative and Comparative Biology 44.2 (2004): 163-76. ProQuest. Web.…
These spatially separated population interact as individual members which move from one population to other population (species). or a group of population…