The podcast titled “Wolves, Trees, and Elk” explains how the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park has helped the aspen tree population recover in certain areas. What are some of the problems that could potentially be caused by the wolf-willow population interaction? With a partner, make a list of some problems that could occur if the wolf and willow populations were too large or too small.
After you read the article, complete the Wolf Article Self-Test.
Read Parks Canada’s article “The wolf has a story to tell,” and think about how different populations interact with the wolf population. You can skim over “Investigation 3A” and “Thought Lab 3.1” however, these parts of the textbook will be revisited later on in the unit. Read from “Organisms and Their Environment,” on page 78 of the textbook, to the end of “The Bigger Picture: Earth’s Biosphere,” on page 83. The term biodiversity refers to the variety of different species of organisms and ecosystems that exist in an area. This area on Earth where living organisms are found is called the biosphere. Living organisms are found high in the atmosphere, deep in the ocean, and below the soil layer. Ecosystem: a community of populations together with the abiotic factors that surround and affect the ecosystemīiosphere: all the areas on Earth that are inhabited by lifeīiodiversity: the variety of species in an area and their range of behavioural, ecological, physiological, and other adaptationsĪll of the biotic and abiotic components in the environment make up an ecosystem and all the ecosystems in the world and their interactions make up the biosphere.