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When the wolf is at the door
MSU's epic Yellowstone study sheds new light on ecology
by Jean Arthur |
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Even though the sun won't scramble above the 2.2-million-acre Yellowstone National Park for another two hours, Shana Dunkley throws one leg over a snowmobile, squeezes the throttle and launches into the icy blackness.
Her 35-pound pack includes the tools of her trade: a notebook, telemetry equipment, bone saw, tooth extractor and necropsy kit. Dunkley soon nears an elk kill site, where her work is to be done. She stops the machine, buckles on snowshoes, and trudges through deep snow. Once at the site, she gathers data using techniques that seem straight out of the CSI television series to learn details about the animal's death and how and when it occurred.
| This "robust database," as Garrott calls it, is considered one of the most important research projects done about the Yellowstone ecosystem. |
Dunkley is repeating a litany of research procedures that Montana State University students and scientists have practiced in Yellowstone National Park many thousands of times since 1991. That's when MSU researchers began one of the longest and most important ecological studies ever conducted in one of the world's most beloved environments.
Under the direction of Bob Garrott, MSU ecology professor, the Yellowstone ecosystem study, now in its 17th winter, is notable for its longevity and the sheer amount of information his team has amassed. This "robust database," as Garrott calls it, is considered one of the most important research projects done about the Yellowstone ecosystem.
The MSU study is also significant because of another twist that Garrott could not have foreseen when he first began the project -- the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park in 1995.
"The MSU team had been intensively collecting data in Yellowstone for long enough prior to wolf reintroduction that we had a good understanding about how climate drives ecological processes for big mammals," Garrott said. "So when the wolves came into the system, we had a wonderful opportunity to learn how the predator affected the system we knew so well."
The result is information that not only helps wildlife managers in the Northern Rockies arrive at their decisions, but that also will help scientists understand ecosystems worldwide.
Tom Olliff, chief of the Yellowstone Resource Center, says this data collected over the course of major management and ecological changes in the park has already proven invaluable.
"His pre- and post-data are gold to us," said Olliff, who is the park's chief science officer. "From an ecological standpoint, he has told a compelling story. But from a management standpoint, having these 17 years of scientific data is responsive to our needs."
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