Collaborative Research: LTREB Renewal: Yellowstone wolves: their ecology and community consequences

重新引入大型顶端捕食者是一种越来越受欢迎但在世界范围内有争议的保护做法。这个项目延续了17年来对狼的研究，自从它们被重新引入黄石国家公园以来。该项目的长期目标是确定狼对其主要猎物麋鹿的影响;记录狼和麋鹿在狼重新引入后的进化反应;并量化狼对公园社区互动的影响。在一项为期十年的研究计划的最后五年，研究人员将跟踪单独标记的狼和麋鹿，以确定狼-麋鹿的相互作用如何以及为什么会随着时间的推移而波动，这些波动对狼的特征和生命率的影响，以及狼，灰熊和美洲狮如何协同或对抗地相互作用以影响麋鹿的死亡率。通过研究自狼重新引入以来捕食者-猎物动态的变化，该项目正在收集大型捕食者恢复历史上独一无二的数据。这个正在进行的项目的更广泛的影响已经并将继续是非凡的，在很大程度上是因为顶级捕食者很容易吸引公众的注意力。国际媒体定期报道该项目的成果。电影、面向大众的书籍、专业艺术展览和博物馆展览都是关于黄石狼群及其影响的。该项目的结果将继续对大型食肉动物以及濒危或受威胁物种的有效管理至关重要。研究结果也被纳入黄石国家公园的解说计划，每年吸引超过25万名公园游客。最后，该项目作为研究生论文项目的基础，已经吸引了70多名有抱负的科学家进行实地研究，并通过直接参与一个令人兴奋的，备受瞩目的项目来支持本科生培训。

The reintroduction of large apex predators is an increasingly popular but controversial conservation practice worldwide. This project continues a 17-year study following wolves since their reintroduction to Yellowstone National Park. Long-term goals of the project are to identify the impacts that wolves have on their main prey, elk; document evolutionary responses of wolves and elk following wolf reintroduction; and quantify the effects of wolves on community-level interactions in the park. In the final five years of a planned ten-year study, the investigators will follow individually marked wolves and elk to determine how and why wolf-elk interactions fluctuate over time, the effects of these fluctuations on wolf traits and vital rates, and how wolves, grizzly bears, and cougars interact either synergistically or antagonistically to influence elk mortality rates. By examining changes in predator-prey dynamics continuously since wolf reintroduction, the project is assembling data that are unique in the history of large predator restoration. The broader impacts of this ongoing project have been, and will continue to be, extraordinary in large part because apex predators readily capture the public's attention. Results of the project are routinely covered by international media. Films, books for popular audiences, professional art exhibits, and museum exhibits have all been developed on the Yellowstone wolves and their impacts. Results of the project will continue to be critical to effective management of large predators as well as of endangered or threatened species. Results have also been incorporated into the Yellowstone National Park's interpretive programs, which annually reach over 250,000 park visitors. Finally, the project serves as the basis for graduate dissertation projects, has engaged over 70 aspiring scientists in field research, and supports undergraduate training through direct involvement in an exciting, high-profile project.