What is a keystone species and why does it matter?
Remove one species and an entire ecosystem can collapse, like pulling a keystone from an arch.
The answer
A keystone species is an organism that has a disproportionately large effect on its ecosystem relative to its abundance, much like the keystone in an arch that holds the entire structure together. The concept was pioneered by ecologist Robert Paine, who removed the predatory sea star Pisaster ochraceus from a tidal pool and watched the ecosystem collapse from 15 species to just 8 as mussels took over. Sea otters are a classic keystone species: by eating sea urchins, they prevent kelp forest destruction. Wolves reintroduced to Yellowstone in 1995 triggered a trophic cascade that altered elk grazing patterns, allowed streamside vegetation to recover, stabilized riverbanks, and even changed the physical course of rivers. Bees, as primary pollinators, are keystone species in nearly every terrestrial ecosystem where flowering plants exist.
Source: BioScience
- keystone species
- trophic cascade
- ecology
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