Ghosts of the Appalachians
or the Missing Actors?
John Laundre;living alongsidewildlife.com
When we pass through
the Appalachian Mountains
along its vast
extent from the humid
southeast of Alabama and
Georgia to the
cold and barren of Nova
Scotia and Newfoundland,
we cannot help
but marvel of its beauty
and extensiveness. Unlike
its western cousin,
the Rocky Mountains, which
is a mixture of
forested ranges imbedded in
a matrix of
lowland shrub and grass
ecosystems, the Appalachians
are heavily
forested mountains
imbedded in what is likely one
of the largest
forest ecosystems in
the world. One can only
imagine the
extensiveness of the original
eastern forest, extending to
the north
as far as the tundra, to the
south to the Gulf of Mexico
and to the
west until the beginning
of the Great Plains. It is this
eastern "endless"
forest that provided
the opportunities and resources
to the Earlier
Americans who lived
there for centuries. It is also
this bountiful
forest that gave the
European explorers who
followed their toehold
on the continent.
Rich in plant and wildlife
resources, the eastern
forest likely had
one of the highest densities
of Earlier Americans
in North America. Even today,
the eastern forest
continues to support the highest
density of Current
Americans.
Much has been written about
the destruction
of the eastern forests by early
European colonists
and their descendants.
However, today past
abuses and
cars of these earlier settlers
have been covered
over by an extensive
mantel of young and thriving
forest mixed in
with verdant farmland. In fact,
the structure
of the current forest ecosystem
of the east is
probably
much like that before Europeans
arrived, a
mixture of open farmland and
dense forest.
Today, as in those earlier times,
the open
farmland provides areas
of high productivity where many
species
of wildlife can find food
while the forest provides shelter
from the
elements.
the destruction
of the eastern forests by early
European colonists
and their descendants.
However, today past
abuses and
cars of these earlier settlers
have been covered
over by an extensive
mantel of young and thriving
forest mixed in
with verdant farmland. In fact,
the structure
of the current forest ecosystem
of the east is
probably
much like that before Europeans
arrived, a
mixture of open farmland and
dense forest.
Today, as in those earlier times,
the open
farmland provides areas
of high productivity where many
species
of wildlife can find food
while the forest provides shelter
from the
elements.
To the viewer's eye, it would
seem that
the eastern forests,
especially the Appalachian
Mountains, have
returned to much
of their former beauty and
glory. Even in
the more populated
areas of the East, the forest
extends its fingers
into the fringes
of the cities. It is only in the
East that
abandoned land quickly
reverts to forest! In these
extensive forests
all along the eastern
seaboard, abundant wildlife,
small song birds
and mammals, larger
turkeys, hawks, and even
larger deer and bear,
are again abundant
in many parts of the
Appalachian chain.
Though much was lost in
the past, the recuperation
of the eastern
forest ecosystem
throughout the eastern
seaboard makes it
a true success story,
a paradise gained! All
this in light of one
of the highest human
densities in North America!
But has the Eastern Forest
truly returned
to its past glory as an
ecosystem? An ecosystem is
not like a museum,
not just a static
collection of parts, plants
and animals. It is a
dynamic entity, one
that constantly changes,
grows, dies. All its
parts have a function,
a function vital to the health
of the ecosystem.
The plants of an
ecosystem function as extensive
solar traps,
each day, month, year,
capturing immense amounts
of solar energy.
That energy is
transferred along to other
parts of the
ecosystem in a cascading
chain of actions reaching
the smallest
corners, maintaining the
diversity of life found there.
In each step,
energy is transferred,
energy is lost. Eventually
that energy
passes out of the ecosystem,
replaced by new waves of
solar radiation.
In a true sense, the
function of an ecosystem is
this transfer
of solar energy from
one component to the next.
It is this
energy transfer that keeps
the ecosystem "alive",
maintaining its
integrity and its diversity.
The role, then, of plants
and animals
in the ecosystem is in
successfully performing
this transfer.
This is no small task and
like an elaborate play, is
accomplished
by a well choreographed
cast of thousands, of millions,
playing
parts honed by millennia
of co-evolution. All this is
carried out
on the stage of the ecosystem,
the physical, the biological
props and
scenery that we see. For
most of the players in this
production
, theirs is a dual role, they
capture that energy and pass
it on to
others. They are both
consumer and consumed,
predator
and prey. Half of the
ecologically important role
of prey
is to be eaten by their predators.
In doing so, they pass their energy
on to the next step, fulfilling
their ecological mission. How this
is all done is the intrigues, the
sinuous plots of this elaborate play.
At each step, the predators,
take the energy to the next level.
Many of these predators, in turn,
have their own predators, fulfilling
their dual role. That is how the
system works. In each step, energy
is transferred, energy escapes,
leaving less energy for the next
consumer, the next predator.
and animals
in the ecosystem is in
successfully performing
this transfer.
This is no small task and
like an elaborate play, is
accomplished
by a well choreographed
cast of thousands, of millions,
playing
parts honed by millennia
of co-evolution. All this is
carried out
on the stage of the ecosystem,
the physical, the biological
props and
scenery that we see. For
most of the players in this
production
, theirs is a dual role, they
capture that energy and pass
it on to
others. They are both
consumer and consumed,
predator
and prey. Half of the
ecologically important role
of prey
is to be eaten by their predators.
In doing so, they pass their energy
on to the next step, fulfilling
their ecological mission. How this
is all done is the intrigues, the
sinuous plots of this elaborate play.
At each step, the predators,
take the energy to the next level.
Many of these predators, in turn,
have their own predators, fulfilling
their dual role. That is how the
system works. In each step, energy
is transferred, energy escapes,
leaving less energy for the next
consumer, the next predator.
What is that final passage
of energy within the system?
Who are the ultimate or "top"
consumers/predators? It is the
largest predators, the Wolves,
the Cougars, the Lions, animals
that normally don't have another
predator trying to eat them.
The remaining energy that reaches
them passes through their bodies,
leaving the system. These top
predators, then become the critical,
the climax actors in the final
act of this ecological play. It is
through them this energy, initially
captured by plants from the sun,
flows, completing its run, its final
curtain call. However, it is a never
ending final call, a never ending
play as new energy continues
moving up, new prey, new predators,
new actors, providing life, vitality,
diversity to the stage of the
ecosystem, the play of life.
What happens if these top
actors are missing? Can the play
go on? Can a system fine tuned
over evolutionary time whose function
depends on each part being
connected, continue to work in the
absence of its climax actors?
We have ample evidence that suggests
not. Predators in general
and large ones in particular, have
always bore the brunt of
humans' dislike and scorn. Viewed
as villains rather than
stars in the play of life, they have
always been the first to be
removed from the stage. This has
happened not only in the
Eastern forests but in most ecosystems
in the world. What
has happened in these ecological plays
when the top actors
have been removed? Without predators,
the energy flow
become blocked and can no longer flow
upward. The blockage
of this energy flow, as with the blockage
of a river or of any
flow-through system, the flow backs up,
disrupting the system,
the ecosystem. It concentrates in the
form of excess numbers
of consumers, normally prey for higher
levels, and it builds up.
Like a volcano building up pressure
and eventually exploding
in a series of violent eruptions,
destroying the mountain, increasing
consumers destroy the ecosystem.
In Yellowstone National Park,
removal of the Wolf led to an over
population of Elk, leading to
losses of plant species Elk preferred,
to losses of other species
dependent on these plants, to
eventual losses of Elk who starved
and died under their own population
weight. Yellowstone changed
from a smooth flowing river of energy
to one of fits and starts, of
energy blockage, a system of violent
cycles. This pattern has
repeated itself many times over, the
Kaibab plateau after the
removal of Cougars, the Moose on
Isle Royale, introduced
without their predator, the Wolf.
To remove the top predators
in these ecosystems was an ecological
crime, committing these
systems to a slow agonizing death.
How about the Appalachian
forests? Is the cast of ecological
players complete? Unfortunately,
the East is also missing its star
performers, Wolves and Cougars,
having been long killed out by
our well-meaning but misguided
ancestors. All that remains are
the ghosts of these past performers,
apparitions that seemingly appear
periodically but are of little
substance. Regardless of all these
ghostly sightings, real or
otherwise, the cold fact remains,
the Wolf and Cougar are
ecologically extinct in the
Appalachians. In the absence of
these actors, the stage is set for
a different script. Without
Wolves and Cougars, their main
prey, White-tailed Deer,
have returned with a vengeance,
in many eastern states
numbering in hundreds of
thousands to millions of animals.
Each of these individuals ravenously
eat around 1,500 pounds
of plants per year. As a result,
the eastern ecosystems are
time bombs waiting to explode.
Some have already; after years
of excessively high deer densities,
forest flowers and animals
dependent on them are disappearing
. As importantly,
tree seedlings, the forest
of the future, are also vanishing
under the constant chewing of
millions of deer. The ecological
fabric of the Appalachian
ecosystem is unweaving before our
very eyes. What we see in the
verdant, seemingly vibrant forests
is a façade hiding a rapidly decaying
stage of life, burdened by too
many prima donnas. What we see is
not an endless play of life but
a short-lived tragedy doomed to failure.
The fact is clear,
the Appalachian play is missing
its star performers and an
ecological disaster is unfolding on
the stage. Can the ending
of this play be changed by bringing
back the stars? Can it be
as simple as that? Scientifically,
the answer is a resounding yes.
However, before society agrees,
many questions need to be
answered. The first of which is:
can Wolves and Cougars still
survive on the modern stage
that is the Appalachians of today?
If so, what are some of the dangers,
if any, of them coming back.
After all, aren't they large and
dangerous animals???
If we agree that they should come
back, how do we as a
society help them back? These
and many more questions
I hope to address in future posts
to this blog.
John Laundré
I was born and raised in
the Midwest (Wisconsin) and received
my bachelors and
masters degrees there. I received my
PhD from Idaho
State University in 1979. Since then,
I have been working
in large mammal predator-prey
ecology for over 30 years
and have studied predators and
their prey in the western
U.S. and northern Mexico. My
experience includes working
with cougars, wolves, coyotes,
bobcats, deer, elk, bison,
and bighorn sheep. I have
conducted one of the longest
(17 years) studies of cougar
ecology and behavior to date
and have published over 15
scientific articles both on this
work and work conducted in
Mexico. I am the originator
of the concept of the landscape
of fear that proposed that
fear of prey for their predators
drives many, if not all
ecological processes. The one
important aspect of this
concept is that predators
become instrumental in
maintaining the balance
between prey species and
their habitat, not so much
by killing their prey but
affecting how they use the
landscape. I am the author
of the newly published book,
Phantoms of the Prairie: The
Return of Cougars to
the Midwest that looks at the
phenomenon of cougars
actually moving back into
the Great Plains region of
the U.S. I am currently living
in Upstate New York in
Oswego where I am an adjunct
faculty member at
the SUNY Oswego and also
active in issues concerning
cougars in the Northeast.
I am the vice president of the
Cougar Rewilding Foundation
whose goal is the eventual
re-establishment of viable
cougar populations in the Eastern U.S.
the Midwest (Wisconsin) and received
my bachelors and
masters degrees there. I received my
PhD from Idaho
State University in 1979. Since then,
I have been working
in large mammal predator-prey
ecology for over 30 years
and have studied predators and
their prey in the western
U.S. and northern Mexico. My
experience includes working
with cougars, wolves, coyotes,
bobcats, deer, elk, bison,
and bighorn sheep. I have
conducted one of the longest
(17 years) studies of cougar
ecology and behavior to date
and have published over 15
scientific articles both on this
work and work conducted in
Mexico. I am the originator
of the concept of the landscape
of fear that proposed that
fear of prey for their predators
drives many, if not all
ecological processes. The one
important aspect of this
concept is that predators
become instrumental in
maintaining the balance
between prey species and
their habitat, not so much
by killing their prey but
affecting how they use the
landscape. I am the author
of the newly published book,
Phantoms of the Prairie: The
Return of Cougars to
the Midwest that looks at the
phenomenon of cougars
actually moving back into
the Great Plains region of
the U.S. I am currently living
in Upstate New York in
Oswego where I am an adjunct
faculty member at
the SUNY Oswego and also
active in issues concerning
cougars in the Northeast.
I am the vice president of the
Cougar Rewilding Foundation
whose goal is the eventual
re-establishment of viable
cougar populations in the Eastern U.S.
Want to Learn More?
Laundré JW (2010). Behavioral
response races,
predator-prey shell games,
ecology of fear, and patch use
of pumas and their ungulate prey.
Ecology, 91 (10),
2995-3007 PMID: 21058559
response races,
predator-prey shell games,
ecology of fear, and patch use
of pumas and their ungulate prey.
Ecology, 91 (10),
2995-3007 PMID: 21058559
RIPPLE, W., & BESCHTA,
R. (2004). Wolves and
the Ecology of Fear: Can Predation
Risk Structure
Ecosystems? BioScience, 54 (8) DOI:
10.1641/0006-3568(2004)054[0755:
WATEOF]2.0.CO;2
R. (2004). Wolves and
the Ecology of Fear: Can Predation
Risk Structure
Ecosystems? BioScience, 54 (8) DOI:
10.1641/0006-3568(2004)054[0755:
WATEOF]2.0.CO;2
in a small space saturates the soils with nitrogen from pee, according to a study published online in the journal Ecology.
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