scholarly journals The Moose of Isle Royale: An Unnatural Condition?

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel V Scarpino ◽  
Rafael F Guerrero ◽  
Philip V Scarpino
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Lake Superior ◽  
Local Extinction ◽  
Isle Royale ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Isle Royale National Park ◽  
Population Crash ◽  
History Of

The now iconic moose of Isle Royale National Park arrived on the island sometime between 1910 and 1915. Prior to that period there is no evidence of moose in either naturalist reports or in the archaeological history of the island. Early naturalists—while observing the moose during their first 20 years on the island—noted both their dramatic expansion, and equally dramatic population crash in the 1930s, see Figure 1. Around 1950, and just as the moose were rebounding, wolves crossed a frozen Lake Superior and began what is now one of our most emblematic predator/prey systems. Recently, the wolves on Isle Royale appear headed for local extinction. Calls to repopulate the island have renewed the vigorous debate surrounding what is and what is not wild about Isle Royale.

The Holocene vegetation history of Isle Royale National Park, Michigan, U.S.A.

2003 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 1144-1166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robyn Flakne
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Vegetation History ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Forest Composition ◽  
Isle Royale ◽  
Main Island ◽  
Isle Royale National Park ◽  
Forest Lake ◽  
History Of ◽  
Lake Ojibway

A vegetation history for Isle Royale National Park, Michigan, U.S.A., is reconstructed using pollen and spores extracted from two lake sediment cores. Lily Lake is on the southwestern end of the main island of Isle Royale surrounded by northern hardwoods forest. Lake Ojibway is on the northeastern end of the main island surrounded by boreal forest. Pollen and spore records were analyzed using pollen percentage diagrams, nonmetric multidimensional scaling ordination, and modern analog analysis. Squared chord distances for temporally paired subsamples from each site were calculated to determine palynological dissimilarities between the sites through time. These analyses revealed an overall vegetation history that is consistent with other regional reconstructions. High percentages of spruce pollen, indicating a cool climate, are present in the early Holocene, whereas high percentages of pine pollen, indicating a dry climate, occur in the mid-Holocene. The pollen records from the two sites diverge with increased precipitation during the late Holocene. At this time, birch-dominated forest is established near Lily Lake on till-derived soils. At Lake Ojibway, a mixed birch, pine, spruce, and fir forest is established on bedrock-derived soils. The divergence in forest composition is most pronounced within the last 500 years, and this divergence is tentatively attributed to the response of taxa on different substrates to increasing precipitation. Other possible explanations for the recent divergence include changing microclimates or disturbance regimes.

Wolf Listeners: An Introduction to the Acoustemological Politics and Poetics of Isle Royale National Park

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 87-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik DeLuca
Keyword(s):  
Environmental History ◽  
National Park ◽  
Cultural Theory ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Material Object ◽  
Isle Royale ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Isle Royale National Park ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Nature And Culture

Listening to wolf howls as both material object and socially constructed metaphor highlights the contested relationship between nature and culture. The author conducted field research on Isle Royale National Park from 2011 to 2015, from which data he offers a narrative wherein citizen-scientists who listen for the howl literally “lend their ears” to a wolf biologist who has led the longest continuous predator-prey study in the world. The theoretical framework of this essay extends acoustic ecology, first theorized by R. Murray Schafer, to include environmental history and cultural theory, which problematizes definitions of “nature” and “natural.” Ultimately, this introduction describes a nuanced form of participatory, situational environmental music that plays out in the everyday lives of those listening on this remote, roadless island on Lake Superior.

Moose Browsing and Soil Fertility in the Boreal Forests of Isle Royale National Park

Ecology ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 467-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Pastor ◽  
B. Dewey ◽  
R. J. Naiman ◽  
P. F. McInnes ◽  
Y. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
National Park ◽  
Isle Royale ◽  
Isle Royale National Park ◽  
Moose Browsing
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document