Food Web, Rev 7, Jan 2014

Environmental Stewardship

FDSCI 203

Yellowstone Ecosystem Food Web

In this activity we will examine the interconnectedness of various organisms in the
greater Yellowstone ecosystem and the number of individuals required to support a
top predator. A variety of organisms in the ecosystem are listed below and their
feeding preferences indicated. This obviously is not a complete list of species that
occur in the Yellowstone ecosystem.
Producers: algae, grass, sunflower, huckleberry, bitterbrush, whitebark pine
C o ns um e r s
organism)

Feeding Preferences (% of the consumers diet coming from this

stonefly

algae (100%)

cutthroat trout

stoneflies (100%)

grasshopper
(10%)

grass plants (80%), sunflower plants (10%), bitterbrush plants

miller moth

grass plants (90%), sunflower plants (10%)

mouse

sunflower seeds (30%), grass seeds (30%),

huckleberries (10%), miller moths (10%), bitterbush
seeds (10%), grasshoppers (10%)

sparrow

grass seeds (30%), sunflower seeds (30%),

grasshoppers (20%), miller moths (20%)

Nutcracker crow whitebark pine seeds (70%), sunflower seeds (20%), huckleberries
(10%)
squirrel

whitebark pine seeds (60%), sunflower seeds (10%),

huckleberries (10%), grass seeds (10%), grasshoppers (10%)

rabbit

grass plants (100%)

deer

bitterbrush (40%), huckleberry bushes (30%), grass plants

(30%)
elk

grass plants (80%), bitterbrush (10%), huckleberry bushes

(10%) sparrow hawk

sparrows (40%), grasshoppers (30%), mice (20%),

nutcrackers (10%) bobcat

(10%)

rabbits (50%), squirrels (20%), mice (20%), deer

1

Food Web, Rev 7, Jan 2014

wolf

elk (75%), deer (15%), rabbits (10%)

grizzly bear

whitebark pine seeds (60%), miller moths (20%), cutthroat

trout (10%), elk (10%)

PART 1 YELLOWSTONE FOOD WEB. Using the information on the previous page,
diagram this food web by drawing arrows to indicate which organisms are
consumed by other organisms in the ecosystem. Arrows point towards the
consumer. (Some have already been done for you to illustrate how to do this.)

wolf

grizzly bear

sparrow hawkbobcat

deer
elk
squirrel
rabbit
nutcracker crow
sparrow

mouse

miller moth

cutthroat trout

grasshopper

stonefly
CONSUMERS
PRODUCERS

white pine seeds

algae

huckleberry plants or fruit

grass plants or seeds

bitterbrush plants or seeds

sunflower plants or seeds

How long is the longest food chain in this food web? (i.e., the one with the most
links) Example: The algaestoneflytrout food chain involves 3 trophic levels
(i.e., it has 3 links).

The longest food chain is the grizzly bear.

Part 2 Caloric Values and Energy Requirements for Individual
Organisms
Using the following caloric values and requirements, calculate the TOTAL number
of both producers and consumers needed to support one grizzly bear for one year
(all trophic levels).
Producers
algae
grass plant/seed
sunflower plant/seed
huckleberry
bush/fruit
bitterbrush
plant/seed
whitebark pine seed
stonefly (1 g)
grasshopper (5 g)
miller moth (1 g)
mouse (25 g)

Caloric Value
(cal)
0.05 cal

100 cal/1 cal

100 seeds/plant

200 cal/0.5 cal

2000
seeds/plant

200 cal/5 cal

250 cal/0.5 cal

200
berries/bush

1 cal

500 seeds/bush

Caloric value
5
cal
20
cal
0.5
cal
30

sparrow (25 g)

30

nutcracker crow (130

g)
squirrel (500 g)

10
0
80
0
160
0
24,00
0
60,00

rabbit (1500 g)
deer (100 kg)
elk (250 kg)
Carnivores (weight)
required
cutthroat trout (0.5 kg)

Annual Seed
Production

Caloric value (cal)

sparrow hawk (100 g)

1500
cal

bobcat (15 kg)

wolf (45 kg)

300 seeds/tree
300
0
750
0
500
0
10,00
0
50,00
0
90,00
0
40,00
0
120,00
0
1,500,000
4,000,000
Calories/year
18,00
0
75,00
0
300,00
0
800,00
0

grizzly bear (300 kg)

3,000,000

Calculating Numbers. In this exercise, you will need to calculate the number of
organisms needed to support a top predator in an ecosystem. This can be done
using the information on the preceding page, and the first page. The following
example will demonstrate how this is to be done. Look at the previous page to
find caloric values (e.g., one elk equals 200,000 calories; one deer yields 100,000
calories; and one rabbit has 2000 calories).
In this first table, you will calculate the numbers of organisms directly
consumed by the
predator. In this example it is useful to remember that wolves form packs, which hunt
and
feed together. Pack size varies but can range from 520 individuals. Although the
numbers of prey per individual wolf may seem small, if you multiply that number
by how many wolves are in the pack, you get a much bigger number (e.g., if a pack
has 10 members, then the pack
may be killing as many as 100 elk and 40 deer per year).
Top predator:

wolf

Caloric requirement for one year:

800,000 (or 800 K) calories AMOUNT OF BIOMASS
DIRECTLY REQUIRED

Prey Species % of wolfs

# cal needed from
diet
prey
Elk
75% (or 0.75) 800
K 0.75 =
600,000 cal
Deer
15% (or 0.15) 800 K 0.15 =
120,000 cal
Rabbits
10% (or 0.10) 800 K 0.10 = 80,000
cal

# prey individuals
needed
600,000 60,000 = 10
Elk
120,000 24,000 = 5
Deer
80,000 1600 = 50
Rabbits

In addition to the animals directly consumed by the predator, we have to

consider the organisms that support the prey animals. These species support the
predator indirectly. The same calculations need to be done for all the prey
species the wolves consume. This example demonstrates how to do this for just
one of those prey species: deer.
AMOUNT OF BIOMASS INDIRECTLY
REQUIRED

Biomass need to support ALL five deer

Calories required/deer/year:
1,500,000 (or 1.5 M)
Prey
% of deers
#cal
#prey/de
total #prey
Species
diet
needed/deer
er
needed
Bitterbrush
40% (or 0.4) 1.5 M 0.4 =
2400
2400
5 = 12,000
Huckleberry
Grass

600,000
30% (or 0.3) 1.5 M 0.3 =
450,000
30% (or 0.3) 1.5 M 0.3 =
450,000

plants
2250
plants
4500
plants

plants
2250 5 = 11,250
plants
4500 5 = 22,500
plants

To get the value in the 4th column, divide the number in the 3rd column by
the caloric value of that species (e.g., one deer will eat 450,000 cal of grass in
one year, since each grass plant contains 100 cal, the deer will require 4500

grass plants to survive). Since one wolf will consume 5 deer, multiply 4500 grass
plants by 5 to get the value in the last column (22,500).
Add up the numbers in the last column and you will see that it takes 45,750
plants to
support the five deer needed support 1 wolf for one year. Doing the same
calculations for elk and rabbits will yield the total number of organisms required
to feed a single wolf indirectly
through all of its prey species, at all trophic levels (again, for one year).

Name: Bailee Seegmiller

YELLOWSTONE FOOD WEB WORK

SHEET
Top predator: grizzly bear
by this predator/year:

Prey Species
White pine
(seeds)
Miller moths

Calories needed
3,000,000

AMOUNT OF BIOMASS DIRECTLY REQUIRED

# cal needed
% of bears
# prey individuals
from
diet
needed
60
1,800,000
1,800,000
pre
20

600,000

1,200,000

Elk

10

300,000

Trout

10

300,000

200

AMOUNT OF BIOMASS INDIRECTLY REQUIRED

Biomass needed to support 1,200,000
miller moths Calories
required/moth/year: 5,000
Prey Species
% of moths
#cal
#prey/mot total #prey
4,500
54,000,000
diet 90
needed/moth
h 45
needed
Grass plants
Sunflower
plants

10

Biomass need to support 5

4,000,000
Prey Species
% of elks
diet 80
Grass plants

500

elk

2.5

3,000,000

Calories required/elk/year:

#cal
3,200,000
needed/elk

#prey/elk total #prey

32,000
160,000
needed

Bitterbrush

10

400,000

1,600

8,000

Huckleberry

10

400,000

2,000

10,000

Biomass needed to support 200

trout
Calories
required/trout/year: 18,000
Prey Species
% of trouts
#cal
#prey/tro total #prey
100
18,000
720,000
diet
needed/trout
ut 3,600
needed
Stonefly
Biomass needed to support 720,000
required/fy/year: 3,000

stonefies

Calories

Prey
Species
Algae

% of stonefys
diet 100

#cal
3,000
needed/fy

#prey/fy
240

total #prey
43,200,000,000
needed

YELLOWSTONE FOOD WEB WORK SHEET

Using the numbers calculated on the preceeding page, total the
number of organisms at each trophic level needed to support one
grizzly bear in Yellowstone for one year.
Producers 43,258,980,000

Herbivores 1,920,005

Carnivores 200

Part 3 Looking at the Sustainability of Grizzly Bears in Yellowstone

The Yellowstone grizzly bear population crashed in the 1970s, when the parks
open garbage dumps were closed, forcing the bears to revert to a more natural
diet. At its lowest, the population was estimated at about 200 bears. Since that
time the grizzly population has grown steadily to about 600 bears. Indications are
that the current population may be at the carrying capacity of the park. If the
carrying capacity for grizzlies is 600 individuals, calculate the total number of
organisms at each trophic level needed to support the current grizzly population.
Producers 25,955,390,000,000

Herbivores 1,152,003,000

Carnivores 120,000

Although the grizzly bear population in Yellowstone seems to be stable, there is

much concern for its future. Three of the four primary food sources for grizzlies
are seriously threatened: miller moths (from pesticide use & habitat loss),
cutthroat trout (from introduced disease and non-native trout species), and
whitebark pine (from white pine blister rust, an introduced disease). If these food
sources were to disappear, grizzly bears would have to rely more heavily on the
parks elk herd, which is estimated to be about 6,000, although this number
flucuates. If grizzlies fed only on elk, how many elk would be needed to feed all
600 bears in Yellowstone for one year? Would the bear population then be
sustainable?

There would need to be 50 elk for one bear to eat in a year. All 600 bears would
need 30,000 elk in one year. There would not be enough elk to sustain the
population.