blog #6
It All Stared with a Few Trout. Now Yellowstone's Iconic Birds Face "Collapse"
by Todd Wilkinson
July 2, 2018
A change in Yellowstone's food chain, brought upon by the near total replacement of one fish with another species, has brought upon a cataclysmic chain of events that is now resulting in the dwindling number of many bird species who are prey to the bald eagle. The rapid rates of consumption by the bald eagles raises concerns to the potential extinction of nesting birds within the park. This chain reaction is the result of three main causes: the first being the loss of the majority of the cutthroat trout population to the lake trout, the second being climate change (which alters the animal's habitats), and the third being the role humans play is displacing sensitive species. The shift in the food chain is shown by grizzly bears turning to elk as their prey, due to a lack of cutthroats, as well as the turning upon nest birds by bald eagles. In response, the park has decided to net-fish the lake trout from Yellowstone's lakes, and while the process is slow, the slight increase of cutthroats show that progress is being made. The decision to do so was not an easy one, for whenever possible the park does what it can to follow the ideology of "letting nature take its course", but such a drastic change needed to be countered.
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