American Bison

American bison create trophic cascades through a different mechanism than elk: not by avoiding predators but by creating disturbance. Bison wallows—depressions where bison roll in dirt—create microhabitats. Their selective grazing maintains grassland diversity. Their nutrient deposits fertilize patches. Before near-extinction, 30-60 million bison were the dominant ecological force on the Great Plains.

Bison demonstrate that trophic cascades can work through ecosystem engineering as well as predator avoidance. Elk cascades require wolves to create fear; bison cascades require bison to create disturbance. Both herbivores transform ecosystems, but through different mechanisms.

The business parallel is market participants who create cascades through activity rather than through response to pressure. Bison are like companies whose normal operations create market infrastructure others depend on—logistics networks, platform APIs, or industry standards. They don't need competitive pressure to create ecosystem effects; their ordinary activity does it. Bison strategy shows that cascade effects don't require predators—active ecosystem engineering by major players creates similar restructuring.