Trophic cascades—the top-down regulation of ecosystems by predators—are an essential aspect of ecosystem function and well-being. Trophic cascades are often drastically disrupted by human interventions—for example, when wolves and cougars are removed, allowing deer and beaver to become destructive—yet have only recently begun to be considered in the development of conservation and management strategies. Trophic Cascades is the first comprehensive presentation of the science on this subject. It brings together some of the world’s leading scientists and researchers to explain the importance of large animals in regulating ecosystems, and to relate that scientific knowledge to practical conservation. Chapters examine trophic cascades across the world’s major biomes, including intertidal habitats, coastal oceans, lakes, nearshore ecosystems, open oceans, tropical forests, boreal and temperate ecosystems, low arctic scrubland, savannas, and islands. Additional chapters consider aboveground/belowground linkages, predation and ecosystem processes, consumer control by megafauna and fire, and alternative states in ecosystems. An introductory chapter offers a concise overview of trophic cascades, while concluding chapters consider theoretical perspectives and comparative issues. Trophic Cascades provides a scientific basis and justification for the idea that large predators and top-down forcing must be considered in conservation strategies, alongside factors such as habitat preservation and invasive species. It is a groundbreaking work for scientists and managers involved with biodiversity conservation and protection.

With two major investigations now closed, fish and wildlife police officer Luke McCain is called upon for his most high-profile case yet. En route to the Washington State Fair, an exotic cat show's trailer is stolen. After some of the big cats are released into the Cascade Mountains, McCain and his dog Jack try to locate the show's most menacing member: a Bengal tiger. Meanwhile, there are rumblings that a wild cougar has killed a dirt biker in the region. While news crews flock to McCain's neck of the woods, he must stay on the trail of both big cats before anyone else falls prey to the predators.

As a Fish and Wildlife police officer, Luke McCain and his partner -- a yellow Labrador named Jack -- spend their days patrolling the rivers, lakes and forests of the wild and scenic Cascade Mountains in Eastern Washington. After hunters discover human remains inside a bear's stomach, McCain is thrust into the investigation. As more dead women are found in McCain's region, authorities suspect a serial killer is prowling the mountains he knows best. McCain will need his knowledge as an outdoorsman, and his instincts as an investigator, to track the psychopathic predator before he kills again.

This 1993 book documents the importance of trophic cascades in aquatic ecology.

A Fish & Wildlife officer, his FBI agent girlfriend and their Labrador investigate a series of shootings in illegal marijuana fields in the Cascade Mountains of Eastern Washington.

The crab spider is an ideal species on which to test basic questions of lifetime fitness, but ecologists had previously lacked experimental data needed to comprehensively test individuals making foraging decisions. This book recounts Morse's influential experimental discoveries, moving from individuals to communities to ecosystems.

“A soulful reckoning for our twenty-first century, held in focus through echoes of the past and future, but always firmly rooted in now.” —Yusef Komunyakaa, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Winner of the Colorado Book Award in Poetry (2018) In this fourth book in a series of award-winning survival narratives, Dungy writes positioned at a fulcrum, bringing a new life into the world even as her elders are passing on. In a time of massive environmental degradation, violence and abuse of power, a world in which we all must survive, these poems resonate within and beyond the scope of the human realms, delicately balancing between conflicting loci of attention. Dwelling between vibrancy and its opposite, Dungy writes in a single poem about a mother, a daughter, Smokin’ Joe Frazier, brittle stars, giant boulders, and a dead blue whale. These poems are written in the face of despair to hold an impossible love and a commitment to hope. A readers companion will be available at wesleyan.edu/wespress/readerscompanions. “Dungy asks how we can survive despair and finds her answers close to the earth.” —Diana Whitney, The Kenyon Review “Trophic Cascade frequently bears witness—to violence, to loss, to environmental degradation—but for Dungy, witnessing entails hope.” —Julie Swarstad Johnson, Harvard Review Online “Tension. Simmering. Beneath her matter-of-fact, easy-going, sit-yourself-down, let-me-tell-it-like-it-is clarifying. And her power we take deadly seriously.” —Matt Sutherland, Foreword Reviews “[Trophic Cascade] asks us, in spite of the pain or difficulty of being human today, to find joy and vibrancy in our experiences.” —Elizabeth Flock, PBS Newshour