Researchers with Colorado State University spent two decades studying the ecosystems in Yellowstone National Park, with the goal of learning whether or not the reintroduction of wolves had any rapid impacts on willows and beavers.
After more than 20 years of collecting data, the researchers found the reintroduction of wolves did not have a rapid or notable impact on those ecosystems in the park.
David Cooper and Tom Hobbs, research scientists with CSU, said the removal of wolves from ecosystems has a much more rapid impact on the area than the reintroduction does.
“When you take top predators like wolves, grizzly bears and cougars, bad things can happen to the ecosystem,” said Hobbs said.
Hobbs said the researchers specifically focused on riparian areas in Yellowstone.
“A riparian area is all the vegetation that exists alongside streams and rivers,” Hobbs said.
The researchers found the removal of wolves had a major impact on the vitality of the streams and rivers, and the ecosystems around them. When the predators, such as wolves, were removed, the elk population rapidly grew. Those elk then consumed the willows in the area, removing food and building resources for the area beavers. Therefore, beavers could not survive, and in turn could not build dams that helped improve water tables.