Without risk of harm, elk and deer linger near water. This tramples the shoreline. And they love eating noshing on (aspen) saplings. Over time, the shorelines become barren.
With the reintroduction of wolves, shorelines are no longer safe havens. Aspens have returned. With aspens, song birds have returned. Trees shade the water (eg streams), so fish are happier. Trees stabilize the top soil, reducing erosion, allows other plants to become reestablished.
I dimly recall beavers returned too.
--
Aha. I was mostly right (or hallucinating). Here's perplexity link for "impact of return of wolves to yellowstone".
I learned about the birds returning because of the wolves while volunteering at Audubon. That linked summary doesn't go into those details.
--
Update: I should've read the OC first. My bad. TIL: (too many) bison also negatively impact riverbanks. I had thought (misremembered) that overall impact of bison was positive. Does Yellowstone need more cougars?
Without risk of harm, elk and deer linger near water. This tramples the shoreline. And they love eating noshing on (aspen) saplings. Over time, the shorelines become barren.
With the reintroduction of wolves, shorelines are no longer safe havens. Aspens have returned. With aspens, song birds have returned. Trees shade the water (eg streams), so fish are happier. Trees stabilize the top soil, reducing erosion, allows other plants to become reestablished.
I dimly recall beavers returned too.
--
Aha. I was mostly right (or hallucinating). Here's perplexity link for "impact of return of wolves to yellowstone".
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/impact-of-return-of-wolves-...
I learned about the birds returning because of the wolves while volunteering at Audubon. That linked summary doesn't go into those details.
--
Update: I should've read the OC first. My bad. TIL: (too many) bison also negatively impact riverbanks. I had thought (misremembered) that overall impact of bison was positive. Does Yellowstone need more cougars?