The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

Authors(s): Anonymous

Publication: Natural Resources: Wildlife 3

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Publication Date: 0000-00-00

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Abstract: An ecosystem is a place where plants, animals, and their physical environment interact. Plants grow by drawing energy from the sun and nutrients from soils or decaying matter. Animals eat plants and each other. When animals die, their decomposing carcasses cycle nutrients back onto the system. Within an ecosystem, all forms of life are inextricably linked in a self-sustaining process. Many call this a ?web of life.? Pull a string on one end of that web, and you will find it attached to everything else. An ecosystem can be as small as a pond or as large as the planet. The 18-million acre greater Yellowstone ecosystem is one of the largest, relatively intact temperate zone ecosystems left on earth. Situated in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, the greater Yellowstone ecosystem includes Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, portions of seven surrounding national forests, three national wildlife refuges, and state and private lands. Most of the region surrounding the core ecosystem has been radically altered, with much of the historical flora and fauna eliminated. Greater Yellowstone, in contrast, still contains nearly all of the living organisms found in pre-Columbian times, though generally not in the same numbers. At the heart of the ecosystem is Yellowstone National Park. The magnificence of Yellowstone cannot be overstated. Each of its separate parts?the geothermal features, the wildlife, the lakes, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and the petrified forest?could easily stand alone as a national park. That they are all at one place is testimony to greater Yellowstone ?s abundant diversity and its natural wealth.

Keywords: Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, animal, plant, ecology, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Targhee National Forest, National Elk Refuge, Idaho, human activity, wildlife