An interesting article in The Times yesterday, about the impact of reintroducing wolves into Yellowstone national park. In a word, it's had a dramatic effect on the elk population and this, in turn, has allowed trees - notably the aspen - to flourish again. The offical abstract of the research paper concludes with the words, "The initial consequences of wolf recovery support the premise that wolves may naturally achieve densities above their threshold for ecological effectiveness and contribute to significant changes in ecosystems, including the amelioration of ungulate-caused landscape simplification". That means that the top predator can survive, that it eats herbivores, which allows more plants to grow!
There's a valuable lesson for my beloved Scotland here - we need keystone species. The introduction of the the wolf, the lynx, and the beaver are essential to regenerate the forests and the wild country (as well as being required by EU law). The risks to man are trivial, and the Yellowstone experiment should encourage us all.
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