Question

In 1995, the wolf population in an area of Yellowstone National Park was reduced to twenty individuals. Conservation efforts over the next ten years resulted in an increase in the wolf population. Researchers also tracked the population size of elk, a source of food for wolves, in the region during this time. The data for the two populations are shown in the figure. In 2000, 10 individual bison were introduced to the area. Bison compete with elk for food but are not a food source for wolves. Which of the following claims about the bison population between 2000 and 2014 is most likely correct? Responses

Answer 1

Answer: the creation of the national park did not protect wolves or other predators, and government predator control programs in the first decades of the 1900s essentially helped eliminate the gray wolf from Yellowstone. The last wolves were killed in Yellowstone in 1926.

It rebalanced elk and deer populations, allowing the willows and aspen to return to the landscape. As a result of the return of the wolves, young woody plants experienced less herbivory in some portions of the northern range and began growing taller.