Keystone Species By Stephen Duarte What is a

Keystone Species By: Stephen Duarte

What is a keystone species? • A keystone species is a species that another species in a specific ecosystem largely depends upon, that if it were removed it would impact the ecosystem drastically • For example if a grizzly bear was absent from a certain ecosystem deer and elk would overpopulate and eat too much of the small trees and the trees would die out producing less oxygen so other animals would die and without the bear taking salmon to the forest and put nutrients in the soil so it would not grow as well. • A keystone species may also be a plant or an animal anything that may play a crucial role to an individual ecosystem

Examples of a Keystone Species

Keystone Species importance • A keystone species is anything that plays a crucial role in how the ecosystem functions • The reason that a sea otter is a keystone species in the ocean is because they eat the sea urchins and invertebrates that feed on giant kelp. • These grazing animals would become a problem without the sea otters keeping them in check because they would kill off entire kelp forests consequently killing off a wide variety of animals that depend upon the giant kelp forests.

Animals that are Keystone Species • • • Lions Prairie dogs Sea Otters Grizzly Bears Salmon Wolves Alligators Jaguars Mountain Lions Beavers Starfish Tiger Sharks