Trophic Cascade
A chain of effects through a food web caused by adding or removing top predators. Changes at the top cascade down through multiple trophic levels, dramatically altering ecosystem structure.
Used in the Books
This term appears in 7 chapters:
"... Book 8: Ecosystem Orchestration How to think about entire markets as living systems. Keystone species (companies that hold ecosystems together), trophic cascades (how changes at one level ripple through entire systems), succession, invasive species, island biogeography - these aren't just ecology concepts."
"...em scale: What happens when dozens or hundreds of organizations interact? How do keystone species (TSMC, Stripe, AWS) shape entire ecosystems? How do trophic cascades (wolves → elk → rivers) propagate through business networks? How do pioneer species colonize new markets, and how do ecosystems mature toward climax ..."
"Songbird diversity increased. Wetlands reformed. One species reintroduced. Entire ecosystem transformed. :::share{variant="teal" label="Trophic Cascade"} One wolf pack changed the course of rivers. Wolves → fewer elk → willows regrow → beavers return → rivers narrow."
"...12. Kauffman, M.J., Brodie, J.F., & Jules, E.S. (2010). Are wolves saving Yellowstone's aspen? A landscape-level test of a behaviorally mediated trophic cascade. Ecology, 91(9), 2742-2755. - Challenges simple trophic cascade narrative; finds effects more complex and spatially variable than initially claimed..."
"...62. - Analysis of when ecological redundancy provides resilience and when species are truly irreplaceable. Ripple, W.J., & Beschta, R.L. (2012). Trophic cascades in Yellowstone: The first 15 years after wolf reintroduction. Biological Conservation, 145(1), 205-213. - Case study of keystone species lacking fu..."
And 2 more chapters...
Biological Context
The classic example: wolves in Yellowstone. Removing wolves let elk overpopulate, overgrazing willows, eliminating beaver habitat, changing stream dynamics. Reintroducing wolves reversed these effects. Trophic cascades reveal how interconnected ecosystems are.
Business Application
Business trophic cascades: when removing or adding key players ripples through entire industries. A dominant platform's policy change affects developers, who affect end users, who affect advertisers.