Full
Text Scientific Articles
Search
our Bibliography
Search
for full-text articles or abstracts by L. David Mech
 |
|
Beyond 2000:
Realities of Global Wolf Restoration
23-26 February 2000
Duluth, Minnesota USA
John A. Vucetich, Carrie L. Schaefer, Rolf O. Peterson, School
of Forestry and Wood Products, Michigan Technological University,
Houghton, MI 49931, USA
The nature of predation has profound impacts on the structure
of ecological communities (i.e., diversity and abundance of species).
Ascertaining whether predation in natural communities depends primarily
on prey density (as in traditional cascading trophic models) or
the number of prey per predator (i.e., ratio) has been contentious,
and based primarily on indirect evidence from either laboratory
or aquatic systems. Here, we present direct evidence from the wolves
and moose of Isle Royale National Park, MI which provides strong
support for the ratio-dependent hypothesis. We also construct an
empirically-based wolf-moose population model showing that dynamics
differ tremendously when predation is governed by ratio dependency
rather that by traditional prey-dependency. Predicted differences
have important implications for the management of ungulate populations
and predator control.
|
