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How Wolves Change Rivers

Sustainable Human · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Animals & natureEnvironment, agriculture & food systems

What it is

George Monbiot narrates how reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone after about 70 years set off a trophic cascade. The wolves changed deer behavior, vegetation recovered, and rivers changed course.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN cites it as the go-to example of how one keystone species can reshape an entire ecosystem.

  • 4 people recommended it
  • 4 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2014, last 2022

What HN commenters said

  1. “this video sums up a lot of what I was trying to say”

    Sums up how ecosystem tampering has wide-ranging effects.

    zackmorris, 2015-07 · Recommendation · in “Why is the Northwest so warm?”

  2. “You need to learn about trophic cascades. Here's a quick intro”

    Quick intro to trophic cascades.

    nkoren, 2016-11 · Recommendation · in “Let's Colonize Titan”

  3. “I saw a pretty cool documentary on how reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone changed the ecosystem for the better.”

    Documentary on wolves improving the Yellowstone ecosystem.

    GFischer, 2017-05 · Recommendation · in “Last major primeval forest in Europe on 'brink of collapse'”

  4. “It's interesting how the wolves changed the entire ecosystem by just changing the behavior of deer”

    Wolves changed deer behavior, producing ripple effects across the ecosystem.

    heimatau, 2020-02 · Recommendation · in “Colorado voters are set to decide if wolves should be reintroduced to the state”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: yellowstone, wolves, keystone species, ecosystem restoration, rewilding

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