Yellowstone National Park Ecology Quiz

The top predator in an ecosystem, often crucial for maintaining balance.

The reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone influenced the populations of other animals and their environment.

The interaction between a predator, which hunts, and its prey, which is hunted for food.

Beavers create dams, which modify the river environment, impacting water flow and vegetation.

A factor that restricts the growth of a population.

Complex interconnected relationships in Yellowstone National Park showing who eats whom.

A social hierarchy within a wolf pack, where dominance and submission influence behavior.

Organisms need food, water, shelter, and a suitable environment to survive.

A series of changes in a ecosystem triggered by the presence or absence of top predators, like wolves, influencing the whole food web.

Beaver dams alter stream flow, creating ponds, and changing water levels. This affects erosion/deposition patterns in the streambeds, providing habitat for a wider range of aquatic life.

Before wolf reintroduction, willow trees near rivers were degraded due to the absence of the top down trophic cascade. The loss of wolves meant increased populations of herbivores eating them, which severely impacted the forest.

Water in Yellowstone is vulnerable to human activities like pollution, altered water flow patterns, and invasive species, potentially disrupting the delicate ecosystems that rely on this water.

Most of Yellowstone's water is stored in snowpack, and in underground aquifers, feeding into waterways. This water is then used by many plants and animals throughout the ecosystem.