Wolves - Keystone Species

How Wolves At Yellowstone National Park Change The Rivers

• Keystone species

  • usually tertiary species

    • tertiary —>, secondary —> primary —> producers

    • energy is the highest at the top, then flows down

• Wolves caused an increase in the abundance of animals and biodiversity in the area

  • one change leads to another —> cascade event

• Rivers changed in response to the wolves

• Regenerated forests stabilized the river banks

• Transformed the ecosystem but also the physiology of the land

Mass Extinctions

• 6th?

• Cenozoic —> Mesozoic —> Paleozoic —> Precambrian

• Cenozoic: mammals, birds, reptiles, plants

• Mesozoic: dinosaurs, birds, mammals

• Paleozoic: explosion of life, invertebrates, plants, fish, insects, reptiles

• Mass extinctions: climate change, natural disasters

  • variables changing in climate change: air water temperature, weather patterns, atmospheric composition

  • meteorites, volcanic eruptions, floods,

  • humans, sun earth