Grandma:
Good, Aspen! I am proud of you for believing that it is important to keep
an open mind and to respect the opinions of others. I am also impressed
that you can recall a passage that you learned in school three years ago.
Not only was the reintroduction of the gray wolf important as a symbol,
it was of major importance to ecology. As you know, ecology is the branch
of biology that is concerned with the relationship between organisms and
their environment. I know that many scientists think that the presence
or absence of the wolves has an effect on all the other species in the
Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. When any species has such an effect, it
is known as the keystone species.
It is important to remember that since the reintroduction of the gray
wolf, the Yellowstone ecosystem is recovering. When we visit the park,
if you look closely enough, you will be able to find every species of
large carnivore, or meat eating predator, that we know was here when Yellowstone
was established as the first national park in 1872. The carnivores are
the gray wolf, coyote, grizzly bear, black bear, and cougar.
