Friday, January 13, 2017

Small changes can have big unexpected impacts

This is really interesting.

4 comments:

libertyman said...

Jeez, they don't look much different than Wolfgang.

SiGraybeard said...

Gee, almost as if the system was designed for a complete cast of characters, and when one (the wolves) is taken away, the system shows the effects everywhere.

I've heard similar stories in Glacier park, but coming from a shrimp that was introduced to fix one problem and led to the collapse of the fish populations which led to more problems. All because some people thought they understood the system but didn't.



Borepatch said...

SiGraybeard, I think this is the story you're talking about:

http://articles.latimes.com/1999/oct/03/local/me-18210

Barney said...

That's a fascinating concept, but I'd have to see some data, not just a Youtube video. Jellystone has had some relatively recent drastic changes besides the wolves. You'll remember the tremendous fires there a decade or so back. The changes from that are still being felt. Those fires promoted a huge understory of brush to spring up which in turn is a huge food source for browsers, prey. Which in turn promotes the hunters, carnivores. Huge changes just from that.