Yellowstone White Bear

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White Bark Pine and Yellow Stone Yellowstone and the grizzly bear (Ursus horribilis) have seemed inseparable. Yellowstone national park spans across Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. It is one of the largest protected parks in the nation . For three generations of Americans coming to Yellowstone Park to see bears become a tradition. As human contact with the bears increases, problems also became obvious. In the 1950s, approximately one out of every 24,000 visitors was injured by a bear. In 1967, the bear population was considered endangered due to the fact that many bears were shot as the incidents of them attacking humans for food became very frequent. From 1980 to 2005, the growth of grizzly population jumped from 4% and 7% each year. In the…show more content…
The key is to help the bears to get back to their natural food sources independently. The white bark pine seeds are a favorite and valuable food source for the grizzlies, and the bears will feed exclusively on the fatty, high protein seeds from August to autumn if they are available. The white bark pine population has been declining due to the mountain pine beetles and a fungal disease called blister rust. The lacking of this important substance, the bears are forced to search for different sources of food outside of the Yellowstone National Park thus increase human…show more content…
Pine can only be infected by basidiospores produced on Ribes plants. These spores are somewhat delicate and short-lived, so spores typically are not dispersed from Ribes to pine more than about 300 meters. However, the Ribes species proved too elusive, difficult to kill and resilient. Also, Pruning is an effective way to fight against white pine blister rust. Branch infections are not too serious; stem infections are — they are often lethal. However, stem infections usually arise from branch infections. Pruning infected branches can prevent infections near the stem from growing into the stem, where they are likely to girdle and kill the tree. If the branch dies before the fungus reaches the next larger branch or stem, the fungus is done for. If it colonizes the stem, especially when it is small, the tree is done for. Also, planting more white bark pine trees will potentially help the situation in the future, since a large number of trees die every year. All of the solutions above contain risks. The complexity of any ecosystems is sophisticated and unpredictable. Through out history people always try out new things and learn from their mistakes. Any action we take to help the grizzly bears and its food source will potentially cause harm instead. After all, all the solutions we come up with are human interference with the original ecosystem. Only time will tell which

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