The days are at their longest, the temperatures have peaked, and rain showers have given way to summer storms.
Graphics Work © Koto
Post by Freya on Jun 14, 2015 15:10:08 GMT -8
THE PLOT
Plot idea/write up credited to Silver
Plot idea/write up credited to Silver
The year is 2025. Ten years ago the Isle Royale wolf population dwindled to three sickly individuals, igniting concerns about the preservation of the ecosystem, and what would happen if the island’s moose population went unchecked. Two pairs of unrelated wolves were sent to the island in an attempt to perform a genetic rescue, but it came too little too late: the island’s native wolf population died out, the consequences of generations of inbreeding taking its final toll.
The scientific community quieted, unable to obtain the funding to intervene further. Yearly surveys indicated that the moose population was increasing at a very rapid rate, and within a few years it had already surpassed the highest population count on record. Concerns about the integrity of the ecosystem started to spread, and after several more years of lobbying from scientists and environmentalists alike the government finally acquiesced and granted the funding needed for one final attempt. The catch: no new wolves were to be imported.
Perhaps it was the ethics of abandoning wolves to die on a remote island, or the question of whether it was right for humans to put creatures where they might not belong, but the condition complicated matters. An unusual proposition was put forward: construct a narrow land bridge that spanned the 15 miles between Isle Royale and the mainland. It seemed like an odd gamble, to see if wolves from the mainland would recolonize the island on their own.
Yet the last-ditch effort appeared to work. With an abundance of prey on the island, two new wolves have made their way to the isle, beginning new packs where there used to be old. Will the newcomers be hardy enough to survive? Will the wolves return to their former numbers, maintaining enough genetic diversity to overcome a changing world?
Scientists are once more leaving nature to take its course…
