In this exhilarating installment of the award-winning Scientists in
the Field series, journey to the isolated islands of Isle Royale
National Park where the longest predator/prey study in the world is
being conducted along with a controversial genetic rescue to save not
only the wolves and moose, but the entire island ecosystem.
On Isle Royale, a unique national park more than fifty miles from the
Michigan shore and about fifteen miles from Minnesota, a thrilling drama
is unfolding between wolves and moose, the island's ultimate predator
and prey. For over sixty years, in what has been known as the longest
study of predator and prey in the world, scientists have studied the
wolves and moose of Isle Royale and the island's ecology to observe and
investigate wildlife populations. But due to illness and underlying
factors, the population of wolves on the island has dropped while the
number of moose has increased, putting the Isle Royale ecosystem in
jeopardy.
Now, for the first time ever, scientists are intervening. Join
celebrated author Nancy Castaldo in this exciting journey to Isle Royale
to document the genetic rescue experiment scientists there are embarking
on. If they can successfully relocate twenty to thirty wolves from the
mainland to Isle Royale, scientists can potentially restore the balance
among wolves, moose, and trees of the island's ecosystem. Now the living
laboratory experiment begins.