Northern spotted owl populations have declined by up to 80 percent over the last two decades. As few as 3,000 remain on federal lands, compared with 12,000 in the 1990s.
New research questions the long-held theory that reintroduction of such a predator caused a trophic cascade, spawning renewal of vegetation and spurring biodiversity.
Some say that the wolves’ contribution to ecological improvements in Yellowstone were only one piece of a larger picture and that grizzly bears, beavers and even humans played a role.
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