Relationships between Predator and Prey

From Necedah National Wildlife Refuge:

Yesterday sparked an interesting discussion on wolves. Here the USFWS mission is to conserve wildlife and their habitats – all of them, the diversity of them. Plants and animals that are native, struggling and thriving. Where and when appropriate we stand by our public uses of wildlife observation, photography, environmental education, interpretation, hunting and fishing. So today let’s look at predators and prey as well as the part humans play in natural resources. (Please keep it civil and productive)

Interestingly the perception persists that any species killed by a predator directly relates to one less animal available for human harvest. However, many people disregard the truth that wildlife population dynamics are far more complicated and interrelated than one for one. Evidence of that is from Van Deelen’s early analysis of WI’s predation study of 1998 – 2008 and quoted that “impacts on deer populations associated with bears and wolves are clearly minor relative to impacts associated with hunting by humans”. We also must not disregard the importance of weather and food availability for any given population level.

Nature is dynamic, human interaction in those systems create an even more complex system. Trophic levels are never stagnant. This would be the case regardless if deer were at the top of a food chain or if humans were.

Here is a little more predator/ prey science for you if you care to read.
http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat/documents/predators.pdf

This video might also help some to better understand how predator / prey relationships and trophic cascades are also a benefit to our ecosystem as a whole. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa5OBhXz-Q&feature=youtu.be

Photo: Winter wolves courtesy of Mike Gifford/ Creative Commons https://flic.kr/p/rji1Hr