Trophic Cascade - Essay Example

The paper "Trophic Cascade" is an outstanding example of an essay on environmental studies. A trophic cascade is a profound concept relating to ecology. It begins at the top of the food chain and goes all the way to the bottom. An example is when wolves were introduced in Yellowstone National Park in 1995 because wolves often kill other species in order to eat them and those species have eaten other species that are smaller than them. It is all in regards to the food chain and the roles of predator and prey. However, they also give life to many others. 

The number of deer increasing before 1995 occurred in Yellowstone National Park because wolves had been out of that habitat for over 70 years. The deer had continued to reproduce and there were not enough other species above them on the food chain. Because of this, the population of the deer increased and they had eaten much of the vegetation. The wolves killed some of the deer but then also changed the behavior of the deer and the places that had lost vegetation started to revive because the wolves had changed them out of that area. The bears also began to kill the baby deer.
The wolves changed the course of the river because there was less erosion. More pools formed. The regenerated forest helped to stabilize the banks of the rivers so that there was less erosion and did not collapse. Because of this, the flow of the river was much more on its steady course.
The following is a food web of Yellowstone National Park. It includes the roles of each species after the wolves were released back into the park after 70 years.
In order to stabilize the ecosystem in the UAE, wild hyenas were reintroduced. The rare animal was endangered and one female was found on Sir Bani Yas Island. Seeing the female had a young litter, it was obvious that there was a male too though it was not found. The young were raised in captivity. They were then relocated back to the island in 2008 in order to control the population of antelopes and gazelles because the other top predator on the island was the cheetah. Hyenas feed on the carcasses too so if there happened to be an antelope or gazelle that had fallen sick, the hyenas would be able to prey on these animals and continue to keep the population healthy by eliminating the sick animals from the island. Read More