Ecological-process management and ungulates: Yellowstone’s conservation paradigm

• Main Author: Boyce, M.S.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Hosted by Utah State University Libraries 1998
• Subjects: Forest Sciences; Canis lupus
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/aspen_bib/1312; http://www.jstor.org/stable/3783751

What have been the consequences for ungulate ecology and management after 30 years of ecological-process management in national parks of the United States? Intervention sometimes has been required to restore and maintain ecological processes, as illustrated by recent wolf (Canis lupus) recovery in Yellowstone National Park. But the long-held belief that ungulate populations must be controlled has no basis in fact, and concerns that ecosystems would collapse without culling ungulate populations have been unfounded. Instead, biologists have learned about the influence of herbivores on vegetation structure and composition and found that ungulate populations are regulated by a variety of demographic mechanisms. Parks are needed as ecological baselines or controls against which we can evaluate the consequences of human activities and developments outside the national parks.