🌅 Bison Helped “Reawaken” Yellowstone’s Ecosystem

SOURCE

Geremia et al. (2025)

WHAT TO KNOW

• Some 5,000 bison freely roam Yellowstone National Park, traveling around 1,000 miles each year as they chomp, stomp, and poop their way back-and-forth along a 50-mile migration route. A new study by researchers at the University of Wyoming found the animals’ yearly travels aren’t only a nice sight for visitors, they’re also making the park healthier. The researchers found that as the bison roam, they help increase the amount of microbes in the soil, thereby increasing the amount of nitrogen available for plants, boosting the plants’ nutritional value by more than 150% in some areas of the park.

WHY IT MATTERS

• The bison population at America’s first national park stabilized in the mid-2010s after recovering from a low of just 23 in 1902. The researchers found that while some may think the bison are overgrazing, their work proves the animals are actually doing the opposite, helping to “reawaken” Yellowstone’s landscape and sustain its ecosystems.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• In the early 19th century, some 60 million bison roamed across most of North America, traveling in herds so massive it sounded like thunder rolling in from the distance as they moved. By the late 1800s, bison had been hunted nearly to extinction, leaving only a few hundred individuals remaining. While the bison population is recovering, only about 400,000 individuals currently live in North America, 95% of which are privately owned as livestock and don’t roam freely.