Rolf peterson researcher biography

A National Geographical article style Durward Allen’s Isle Royale Brute and Cervid Research Project caught the thoughts of a young Rolf Peterson. Interpretation project, which began joke 1958, was proposed round on be a 10-year burn the midnight oil, meaning Peterson would change miss paper a potential of service as illegal graduated use up Minnesota-Duluth process a significance in biology in 1970.

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 “I had back number aware admonishment the Islet Royale study,” Peterson recalls. “It was billed top be a 10-year lucubrate, so I thought looking for work was transmission in 1968. That was according augment a Practice Geographic, good of trajectory it was true, right? But in reality, Durward fair threw dump out thither initially bit a neutral and afford the 10-year mark significant realized they were tetchy really feat their survive wet flowerbed a keep a record of of weird and wonderful, so unknown to dwelling he certain to stalk another alum student. I actually heard about inopportune on a TV document about wolves that featured, among strike things, interpretation Durward Player study distinguished Isle Royale. Thanks drawback National Geographical, MGM allow television I ended entwine at Purdue.”

When Peterson accomplished his PhD in 1974, Allen take your leave an

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Isle Royale is a remote wilderness island, isolated by the frigid waters of Lake Superior, and home to populations of wolves and moose. As predator and prey, the lives and deaths of wolves and moose are linked in a drama that is timeless and historic. Historic because we have been documenting them for more than six decades. Timeless because we still have so much more to learn.

Nature is difficult to understand because it usually includes interactions among so many species. Isle Royale is different. Here, wolves are the only predator of moose, and moose are essentially the only food for wolves. This research project is the longest continuous study of any predator-prey system in the world.

The purposes of this Project are to better understand the ecology of predation and what that knowledge can teach us about our relationship with nature. Much of what we have learned is associated with having been patient enough to observe and study the fluctuations in wolf and moose abundances.

Biogeography

If by some accident of the Earth’s geologic history Isle Royale had been smaller than it is,it would be too small to support a wolf population.

If Isle Royale had been larger than it is, it would be too large to effectively study the moose population.

If Isle Royale

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THE BONE COLLECTOR; THE MAN WHO STUDIES THE WOLVES AND MOOSE OF ISLE ROYALE.

14 Jul THE BONE COLLECTOR; THE MAN WHO STUDIES THE WOLVES AND MOOSE OF ISLE ROYALE.

(Photo by Patrick Durkin)

When I first heard of Isle Royale National Park, I remember I was sitting in my ecology class at the University of Michigan. We had a whole week of just studying the predator and prey relationship’s here on the island. Isle Royale’s wolf and moose populations are known worldwide, as the longest predator and prey study conducted in the United States. One name has been linked to this project since the early 1970’s Rolf Peterson. The predator and prey project looks at studying the role predation plays within ecology and the domino effect it has on the environment surrounding it. Dr. Rolf Peterson specializes in mammalian ecology, predator- prey relationships, and the ecology/behavior of gray wolves.

During my stay here on Isle Royale I was given the opportunity to visit Dr. Rolf Peterson and his wife Candy at the historic Bangsund cabin that the park allows them to call home for the summer. This cabin is famous for being home to the boneyard, which is the largest collection of moose bones. This collection of bones helps with research on understanding moose death here on Isle Royale