Think Before You Do

I recently watched a movie called, “Lords of Nature: Life in a Land of Great Predators,” and was surprised by the effects of man’s decision to extract predators from an environment. The movie’s main claim is that predation is the dominating factor that structures ecosystems.  Moreover, that a lack of predators threatens the life of the entire ecosystem. It then proceeded to explain the situation that was facing Yellowstone in the late 1920s. The general consensus at the time was that “the only good predator is a dead predator.” This perspective is shown by the fact that wolves were extracted out of Yellowstone. Just at the same time that the wolves were extracted however, experts began to realize that the Aspen Trees had stopped reproducing. Not only this, but all the forestation was experiencing a difficulty in growing. The only thing that experts could point to was the fact that this issue began at the same time that the wolves were taken away. Through this discovery came a montage of other supporting evidences. First, that because the wolves were taken away, the elk population had thrived to a level at which the forestation was literally being destroyed by the elk’s eating habits. Second, that because of the elk’s overpopulation, drinking habits resulted in weak to nonexistent streams, thereby negatively affecting the organisms that lived in or benefitted from the streams. I had never really considered the impact that such a seemingly harmless and beneficial decision (i.e. protecting tourists) could have. Why does this matter? Well, with the every growing destruction of animals and habitats (which follows globalization) for purposes such as constructing cities or extracting nature-made products for man’s use (such as trees), it becomes ever more important that we consider the effects which these choices will have on these habitats lest we destroy them in a way that is irreversible, and which proves detrimental to both nature’s organisms and humans as a whole.