What is a keystone species? What role do keystone species play in the structure of an ecosystem? Stuart Blackman explains <\/p>
Named after the wedge-shaped stone at the top of an arch, which locks the other stones into position and prevents collapse, a keystone species is one that plays a central role in the structure of an ecosystem.<\/p>
Beavers<\/a>, for example, physically change the landscape through their dam-building, creating habitats used by other species. And some top predators<\/a> enable diverse vegetation to flourish by controlling the number of grazing animals.<\/p> The term does not apply to just any influential organisms. Crucially, keystone species are those that have a disproportionately large effect relative to their abundance. It would not apply to, say, trees or reef-building corals<\/a>, which have a huge effect on ecosystems <\/a>because of their abundance.<\/p> According to Robert Paine, the zoologist who coined the phrase ‘keystone species’ in the 1960s, it \u201cwas intended to convey a sense of nature\u2019s dynamic fragility and the unsuspected consequences of removing (or adding) species\u201d.<\/p> Paine had experimentally removed ochre starfish<\/a> from areas of rocky shore, which led to mussels<\/a> \u2013 the starfish\u2019s prey \u2013 crowding out other encrusting organisms.<\/p> Other keystone species include sea otters<\/a>, which are highly influential in the functioning of kelp forests, and wolves, whose loss from Yellowstone<\/a> \u2013 and subsequent reintroduction \u2013 had dramatic effects on the national park\u2019s ecology.<\/p> What is a keystone species? What role do keystone species play in the structure of an ecosystem? Stuart Blackman explains <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":34634,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/12\/what-is-a-a-keystone-species.jpg",2121,1414,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/12\/what-is-a-a-keystone-species-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/12\/what-is-a-a-keystone-species-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/12\/what-is-a-a-keystone-species-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/12\/what-is-a-a-keystone-species-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/12\/what-is-a-a-keystone-species-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2023\/12\/what-is-a-a-keystone-species-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"What is a keystone species? What role do keystone species play in the structure of an ecosystem? Stuart Blackman explains","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/34633"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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