Figure 1 An example of how wolves are directly and indirectly linked to other components in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem (compiled by author)
If one part of an ecosystem is removed this can trigger changes in other parts of the ecosystem. The removal of grey wolves from the Yellowstone National Park ecosystem caused such major changes that they had to be reinstated to restore the natural balance.
1 Removal of wolves means coyote numbers increase as they become the top predators, reducing the numbers of their prey.
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