P.J. White
James K. Otton
Maurice A. Chaffee
Robert A. Garrott
2008
<p><span>Though the geology of earth's rare geothermal environments and their associated <a title="Learn more about Microbial Community from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/microbial-community" data-mce-href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/microbial-community">microbial communities</a> are intensely studied, less scientific attention has focused on their potential effects through the plant-herbivore-carnivore trophic chain. The west-central portion of Yellowstone National Park contains a 2000-km</span><sup>2</sup><span> volcanic <a title="Learn more about Caldera from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/caldera" data-mce-href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/caldera">caldera</a> with 2- to 60-million-year-old, predominantly rhyolitic, rocks that produce relatively infertile soils. The caldera area contains one of the largest concentrations of active geothermal features in the world, including thousands of geysers, <a title="Learn more about Fumarole from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/fumarole" data-mce-href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/fumarole">fumaroles</a>, hot springs, and mud pots. In many other chapters of this book, we address the ecological impacts of this unique geology to the ecology of the large mammals that live within the caldera, primarily through the effects of geothermal heat on snow pack. In this chapter, we explore the unique <a title="Learn more about Geochemistry from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/geochemistry" data-mce-href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/geochemistry">geochemistry</a> of the geothermal environments and the consequences of this geochemistry to elk and perhaps other herbivores that reside within the caldera. These studies were prompted by behavioral and demographic observations of elk during the initial years of our studies that we could not explain and, in turn, led us to formulate hypotheses about potential geochemical influences on elk ecology. Specifically, we contrast the concentrations of fluoride (F) and silica (SiO</span><sub>2</sub><span>) found in the Madison <a title="Learn more about Headwater from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/headwater" data-mce-href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/headwater">headwaters</a> area with areas on Yellowstone's northern range located approximately 50 km to the northwest, where geothermal features are rare or absent. We then trace the consequences of geochemical differences through abiotic and biotic linkages in the ecosystem.</span></p>
application/pdf
10.1016/S1936-7961(08)00210-8
en
Elsevier
Living in Yellowstone's Caldera: A geochemical trophic cascade in elk
book