Question

The grizzly bear is another example of a keystone species. Grizzlies transfer nutrients from the ocean ecosystem to the forest ecosystem. The first stage of this transfer is performed by salmon that swim up rivers. Sometimes for hundreds of miles. Salmon are rich in nitrogen, sulfur, carbon and phosphorus. The bears capture the salmon and carry them onto dry land, scattering nutrient-rich feces (wastes) and partially eaten salmon carcasses. It has been estimated that the bears leave up to half of the salmon they harvest on the forest floor. Some people feel the grizzly bear should be eliminated from parts of its natural range. Describe the impact of this proposed action on the forest ecosystems in these areas if the bears are eliminated. Support your answer with information from the passage. You need 3 supported points.

Answer 1

Okay, like the exercise tells us, the grizzly bear is such a good element in the ecosystem since this animal performs a keystone pathway for nutrients taken up from salmons it consumes near the shore of bodies of water.

Having this in mind, the grizzly bear is very important, due to these nutrients will be integrating the nutrient richness of the soil, in form of the animal feces, or in form of the partially eaten carcasses of the fish, that eventually are used for other organisms, like bacteria, fungi, insects, and plants, inhibiting in a specific moment, the growth of the forest.

This is the reason why eliminating grizzly bears from their native distribution should not be considered, because it would represent an imbalance in the ecosystem, generating voids in the trophic network that other organisms would suffer.

Another possible consequence of this would be that the population density of salmons