Environment & climate
Rewilding and how wolves reshaped Yellowstone's rivers
11 min
When wolves returned to Yellowstone, the effects rippled through the whole ecosystem, even changing the course of rivers. Explore trophic cascades and what they reveal about how tightly nature is connected.
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Show notes
Wolf reintroduction triggered an ecology of fear that forced elk to avoid grazing in narrow river valleys.
Geyer willow heights increased from fifty centimeters to over two hundred centimeters once elk pressure subsided.
Deep root systems from recovered vegetation transformed wide braided streams into stable meandering river paths.
The return of beavers raised local water tables that had been dropping for seventy years.
Stabilized riverbanks created inset floodplains that provided complex physical niches for diverse new species.
Long-term erosion from overgrazing created physical barriers that can resist even successful predator reintroduction efforts.
In this episode
- 1Intro1 min
- 2The Silent Decades2 min
- 3The Trophic Cascade Mechanism3 min
- 4Engineering the River3 min
- 5The Complexity of the Truth2 min
- 6Outro1 min
Sources
- Can large carnivores change streams via a trophic cascade?
- Review Riparian vegetation recovery in Yellowstone: The first two decades after wolf reintroduction
- Yellowstone wolves reshaped the rivers | Watts & Wild
- Can Wolves Change Streams?
- Wolves, Willows, and Water: A Retrospective on the Yellowstone Northern Range
- In January 1995, fourteen wolves were brought from Canada in wooden crates and released into Yellowstone National Park to replace the population killed off by 1926, and the question of whether they have changed the course of the park's rivers, as popular science videos viewed by tens of millions claim, has now become one of the most contested debates in ecology.
- Did Wolves Change Yellowstone Rivers? The Beautiful Story That Wasn’t Quite True | The Present Minds
- The Wolves That Changed a River: What Yellowstone Taught Scientists - The Economic Times
- Can large carnivores change streams via a trophic cascade?
- The intended and unintended consequences of wolf reintroduction programs : NPR
- The strength of the Yellowstone trophic cascade after wolf reintroduction
- Review Riparian vegetation recovery in Yellowstone: The first two decades after wolf reintroduction
- Trophic cascades in Yellowstone: The first 15years after wolf reintroduction
- River channel dynamics following extirpation of wolves in northwestern Yellowstone National Park, USA
- The role of large predators in maintaining riparian plant communities and river morphology
- Can large carnivores change streams via a trophic cascade?
- Trophic cascades in Yellowstone: The first 15 years after wolf reintroduction
- INCREASED WILLOW HEIGHTS ALONG NORTHERN YELLOWSTONE’S BLACKTAIL DEER CREEK FOLLOWING WOLF REINTRODUCTION
- doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2004.06.017
- [PDF] Part 1 - The Removal of Wolves and the Reign of Elk
- Riparian vegetation recovery in Yellowstone: The first two decades after wolf reintroduction
- River channel dynamics following extirpation of wolves in northwestern Yellowstone National Park, USA
- Recovering Riparian Plant Communities with Wolves in Northern Yellowstone, U.S.A.
- River channel dynamics following extirpation of wolves in northwestern Yellowstone National Park, USA
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