Ecosystem of Isle Royale

The Ecosystem of

Isle Royale

 by

Tonya M. Smith- Cohort 15

EDLD 5364

1. What and where is Isle Royale? 
2. Ecology
3. What is an Ecosystem?
4. Example of Abiotic and Biotic Factors
5. Abiotic Factors
6. Biotic Factors
7. Ecosystem of Isle Royale- Fauna and Flora
8. What are Food Chains?
9.  Isle Royale Food Chains

Isle Royale is a part of the United States, although the island is actually much closer to Ontario. , and is the largest island in Lake Superior. The island is 50 miles off the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula, 56 miles from Copper Harbor, but only 15 miles from Ontario.

This island and the surrounding smaller islands are all a part of what makes up Isle Royale National Park. It is 45 miles long and 9 miles wide, and has a total area of about 206 sq. miles. This pristine, remote and uninhabited island is the largest island in Lake Superior and is only accessible by private boat, seaplane, and by the U.S. National Park Service ferries.
The island wilderness was deemed a National Park in 1931, and today it stands to be not only the smallest National Park, but also the only island National Park.

There are several levels of Organization in ecology. The first level consists of individual organisms, then populations, next the community, then the ecosystem, and last is ecosphere or biosphere.

An ecosystem consists of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving, physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water, and sunlight.

An ecosystem may be characterized as a viable unit of community and interactive habitat. Ecosystems are hierarchical and can be viewed as nested sets of open systems in which physical, chemical, and biological processes form interactive subsystems. Some ecosystems are microscopic and the largest comprises the biosphere.

A complete study of Earth's ecosystems includes learning about the non-living environment in which living things exist or abiotic factors. 

Abiotic factors have large effects on living things and often determine which species of organisms will survive in a given area.

For example, a lack of rainfall in an area will only allow drought tolerant plants and animals to survive. Continued drought would reduce the total amount of plant matter in the area, which would then reduce the number of plant-eating animals that could survive in the area.

Living organisms always affect other organisms either directly or indirectly. Variations in the biotic factors influence the organisms that are found in an environment.

Abiotic factors influence biotic factors.

The Flora of Isle Royale

Plants                     

The flora of Isle Royale on Isle Royale are also very beautiful. The island is mostly forested in a mixture of boreal and northern hardwood ecosystems, with a selection of conifer (spruce, fir, pine) and deciduous (birch, aspen, maple, ash) trees. Past human habitation have left some apple trees behind. Marsh vegetation is more common in the west, but found in low spots everywhere. A wide variety of orchids and wildflowers can be found throughout the island. Berries grow wild; blueberries can be found on open ridge tops, and thimbleberries (with maple-like leaves bigger than your hand; white flowers in early summer, red berries in late summer) grow seemingly everywhere here.

Food Chain of Isle Royale

On Michigan’s Isle Royale, scientists have a rare chance to study a simple food chain at work.  At the bottom of this food chain, there are several kinds of plants. They store energy from sunlight as food.

In most wild habitats, the food chains are hard to understand. Usually, several chains are tangled together. In these food “webs,” two or three kinds of meat eaters may live off several types of plant eaters, which may feed on many kinds of plants. Compared to food webs, Isle Royale is a simple laboratory set up by nature.

Herbivores (plant eaters) are in the middle of the chain. They get their energy by eating the plants. These herbivores include one thousand to two thousand moose, which eat most of the plants.

At the top of the food chain are the carnivores, which get their energy by eating meat. On Isle Royale, the only carnivores are twenty-five to fifty wolves. Their diet is mainly moose.

All three links in this food chain affect one another. When there are many wolves, there are few moose, and the trees are free to grow. At these times, the wolves begin to starve. Later, when there are few wolves, more and more moose survive until there are so many that they strip the trees. When more moose survive, more of them grow old. Then hunting becomes easier, and the wolf packs grow larger. They eat more moose and . . . the cycle repeats over and over.