It is the classic model of the wolf picking off the sick and the weak, preventing her from breeding and perpetuating weak genetics in the herd, he said. Even more importantly, wolves are the the engine of broader ecological processes because they have such a profound influence outside of prey species, Edward said. There is a huge ripple from wolves to prey to plants back to some other species, he said. Marc Bekoff, a University of Colorado biologist, agreed. I like your multi-sourcing.
Wolves are a key component in all ecosystems in which they live.
They not only influence populations of deer and elk, but also, as a result, some of the flora on which these ungulates feed, Bekoff said. That s not because wolves substantially reduce the size of deer and elk herds. Rather, they tend to make the prey animals wary, more like the wild animals they are supposed to be. Fear of wolves keeps ungulate herds on the move, dissuading them from camping out on easy terrain and stripping it of vegetation, which would lead to erosion and water pollution. As the famous conservationist biologist Aldo Leopold made the case for wolves in his classic, Thinking Like a Mountain, as a deer herd lives in mortal fear of its wolves, so does a mountain live in mortal fear of its deer.