TEMPO.CO, Isle Royale - The gray wolf population at Michigan’s Isle Royale has reduced to an alarming number. Now there are just three individuals left on the island in Lake Superior, Livesciece reported.
Inbreeding is one of the factors behind the declining number of wolf population at the national park. However, ecologists say that extreme climate change may have indirect effect on the condition.
"Isle Royale is the last place on the planet where you have a forested ecosystem, a wolf population and moose population where none of them are exploited by humans," said John Vucetich, a wildlife ecologist at Michigan Technological University, who worked on the new report, as quoted by Livescience.
Gray wolves were first brought into Isle Royale in 1900 to control deer ecosystem. The wolf population increased to 50 but significantly dicreased in 1980 when there was an outbreak of canine parovirus.
In 2014, a survey recorded nine wolves and one year later, there are only three letf. Conversely, deer population had increased from 1,050 to 1,250 in the same year.
The National Park Service is currently mulling if and how they should intervene. Phyllis Green, superintendent of Isle Royale National Park, said an environmental impact analysis about how to manage wolves and moose on the island should be up for public comment in the next couple of months. But it's complicated because her agency has to manage for an entire ecosystem, not just wolves, in the face of a warming world.
LIVE SCIENCE | AMRI MAHBUB
