Climate & Environment
Trophic Cascade
Effects that ripple down food webs when predators are removed or restored — the science behind rewilding.
Definition
A trophic cascade is an ecological phenomenon in which changes at the top of a food web propagate down through trophic levels, altering the abundance and behaviour of species across the ecosystem. Classic cases: removing sea otters collapses kelp forests (urchins graze them bare); restoring wolves to Yellowstone changed deer behaviour, regenerating riverside vegetation — effects documented with ongoing scientific debate about their magnitude.
Overview
The overview for this term is being prepared.
Review
Help keep this definition useful and accurate.
Submitted reviews stay private until an editor decides whether to accept and attribute them.
Contribute to this entry
How would you like to contribute?
Every endorsement and suggested edit is checked by an editor before anything changes publicly.