This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
The wolves and moose of Isle Royale National Park, Michigan, have been studied for 50 years and represent the longest predator-prey study in the world. The project's objectives address three of the most fundamental questions in all of ecology: (i) how and why do animal populations (in this case populations of wolves and moose) fluctuate the way they do?, (ii) how do predators affect their prey?, and (iii) how does climate affect population fluctuations? The essential methods of the project include quantifying the abundance of wolves and moose and the rate at which wolves kill moose each winter by sampling from a fixed-wing aircraft. The moose are further analyzed by collecting skeletal remains of ~35% of all the moose that die on Isle Royale. The project also samples food conditions of moose and relevant climatic conditions.
The Isle Royale project uses diverse and very creative ways to teach the general public about ecology, population cycles and species interactions, as wolves and moose easily capture the public's imagination. In the past 5 years, the project reached over 100 people though their participation in week-long Earthwatch research expeditions, more than 15,000 individuals through presentations by the PIs; over 3,000 individuals through presentations by the project's research associates; thousands through a feature-length documentary film, museum exhibits, and art; tens of thousands through a webpage; and hundreds of thousands of people through professional journalism and popular books. The broader impacts of this project are outstanding, as they also include informing management and conservation decisions.
