Keystone National Park Research Paper

The reintroduction of the wolf into Yellowstone National Park proved significant to the development and growth of species in and around the park. John Muir once said, “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” Here, Muir believes that when one individual component of a habitat is affected, the rest of the habitat is also affected. This idea can best be described as a keystone species. Keystone species are a species of animal that is involved within a specific ecosystem that alters the functions of the entire ecosystem. This species could be a plant or animal, but all other components within their habitat depend on their existence. Without these keystone species, the ecosystem would fail and eventually cease to exist.
In relation to Yellowstone National Park, the wolf is the keystone species. In 1926, all of the wolves were removed or killed to the point where wolves no longer existed in the park. After their removal, many other species were affected because they were the keystone species. These species include the grizzly bear population, the pronghorn antelope population, the elk …show more content…
Wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park to save the species from extinction. At first glace wolves, situated at the top of the food chain, and beavers, on the other end of the food chain, have no direct correlation. But when divulging deeper into the root of the problem, beavers were ultimately affected when wolves were removed from the habitat. As seen in the above paragraphs, the wolves altered the lives of many species, but the most significant were the beavers. In controlling the coyote and bear population from eating such a large number of beavers, they were able to prosper in quantity. The wolves’ most direct link to the beavers was through the elk. Elk eat the trees and without the trees, beavers could not make their