The role of species interactions on community response to climate change.

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Understanding the mechanisms by which species interactions either buffer or exacerbate community response to climate change is a question of critical importance to land managers and conservationists seeking to mitigate the impact of global warming on species extinctions. Research that integrates temporal and spatial variation in environmental conditions, population demography and species interactions is critically needed to provide conservation practitioners with the knowledge tools they will need as a climate-change perspective is increasingly incorporated into management plans. The proposed research will begin to address this critical knowledge gap through a study of how physical forcing by climate interacts with top-down control by wolves (Canis lupus) to influence the elk (Cervus elaphus) mediated food web in Yellowstone National Park. This work will advance the study of ecological response to climate change by emphasizing the understanding of general mechanisms and principles which will make valuable teaching and policy making tools. The proposed work will provide numerous opportunities for graduate and undergraduate training in scientific research. A special emphasis will be placed on recruiting Native American research assistants from Yellowstone affiliated tribes. Results from the study will be shared with land and wildlife managers in Yellowstone, Isle Royale and Greenland. More generally, results also will be conveyed to the public through various media outlets. Real world scientific examples of species response to climate change, particularly large charismatic and economically important species such as wolves and elk, are crucial to educating the public and policy makers regarding the realities of global warming.