Keystone species are species that maintain an ecosystem collectively; with out them, the ecosystem wouldn’t operate. Some keystone species are predators, some are herbivores, however no matter their place within the meals chain, the entire different species within the ecosystem depend on them.
On this web page are examples of keystone species from ecosystems in several elements of the world.
Web page Index
Listed beneath are examples of keystone species. Scroll all the way down to browse the entire animals, or use the index beneath to see info on a specific species.
What Is A Keystone Species?
A keystone species is a plant or animal that performs an important and distinctive position in the way in which an ecosystem features. With out this species, the ecosystem would both be dramatically totally different or stop to exist altogether.
Keystone species have a disproportionately giant impact on their setting relative to their abundance. They contribute to the construction and stability of their ecosystem by influencing the categories and numbers of varied different species in a neighborhood, thereby affecting total biodiversity and ecosystem well being.
The idea of a keystone species was first launched by the ecologist Robert Paine in 1969.
Paine’s analysis highlighted the pivotal position of the purple sea star, Pisaster ochraceus within the intertidal zones of the Pacific Northwest. When these sea stars have been eliminated, the mussel inhabitants, which they preyed upon, exploded, resulting in a big lower in biodiversity.
This demonstrated that the presence of a keystone species can regulate the construction of your entire neighborhood, even when the species itself has a comparatively small biomass in comparison with different animals within the meals net.
Keystone Species Record
African Elephant
- Scientific Identify: Loxodonta africana
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Proboscidea
- Household: Elephantidae
- The place Discovered: Sub-Saharan Africa
- Conservation Standing: Endangered
The African elephant is the biggest land animal on Earth, with a big male weighing greater than three typical household automobiles. Each female and male African elephants have tusks (solely male Asian elephants have tusks.) The elephant’s big ears assist regulate physique temperature.
This keystone species performs an important position in its ecosystem by sustaining its savannah and forest environments, shaping the panorama by trampling grasses, clearing timber and creating water holes in dried-out riverbeds.
Moreover, the herbivorous elephant spreads the seeds of crops it eats far and vast in its dung.
The elephant’s “ecosystem engineering” creates habitats and assets for a lot of different animals within the ecosystem, thereby sustaining the species range of the savanna habitat.
American Alligator
- Scientific Identify: Alligator mississippiensis
- Class: Reptilia
- Order: Crocodylia
- Household: Alligatoridae
- The place Discovered: Southeastern United States
- Conservation Standing: Least Concern
The American alligator is a big reptile discovered within the southeastern United States, identified for its highly effective construct and position as an apex predator in freshwater ecosystems.
The species is one in all two crocodilians native to america (the opposite being the American crocodile). Additionally current within the nation is the non-native spectacled caiman.
The American alligator is taken into account a keystone animal because it each helps to control populations of prey species and likewise create “gator holes” – deeper areas that present important habitats for different wildlife throughout dry intervals.
Banner-Tailed Kangaroo Rat
- Scientific Identify: Dipodomys spectabilis
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Rodentia
- Household: Heteromyidae
- The place Discovered: Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico (desert and semi-desert areas)
- Conservation Standing: Close to Threatened
The banner-tailed kangaroo rat is discovered within the deserts of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. This small rodent has lengthy black and white striped tail with a tuft of white fur on the tip.
The banner-tailed kangaroo is taken into account a keystone species as a result of it disperses seeds and likewise creates intensive burrow programs that present habitats for different desert dwellers, equivalent to lizards.
As well as, the banner-tailed kangaroo rat’s foraging and burrowing actions improve soil well being and promote plant range, that are important for sustaining the desert’s ecological steadiness.
Beaver (North American)
- Scientific Identify: Castor canadensis
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Rodentia
- Household: Castoridae
- The place Discovered: North America
- Conservation Standing: Least Concern
The North American beaver is without doubt one of the best-known examples of a keystone species. This semi-aquatic rodent is present in america, Canada, and elements of northern Mexico.
The ponds and wetlands which are created because of the beaver’s dam-building conduct are essential wetland habitats for birds, fish, and different wildlife. The beaver performs a significant position in sustaining biodiversity, bettering water high quality, and stopping soil erosion.
The North American beaver is one in all two beaver species, the opposite being the Eurasian beaver, which performs an analogous keystone position in European and Asian habitats.
Black-Tailed Prairie Canine
- Scientific Identify: Cynomys ludovicianus
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Rodentia
- Household: Sciuridae
- The place Discovered: Nice Plains of North America
- Conservation Standing: Least Concern
The black-tailed prairie canine is a social burrowing rodent native to the grasslands of North America, identified for its advanced underground colonies often known as “cities.”
The prairie canine considerably influences its ecosystem by aerating the soil and selling the expansion of various plant species by means of its digging actions.
The burrows of this keystone species present habitats for numerous animals, and the prairie canine itself serves as an important meals supply for predators.
With out the black-tailed prairie canine, the prairie ecosystem wouldn’t be capable of operate.
Blue Wildebeest
- Scientific Identify: Connochaetes taurinus
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Artiodactyla
- Household: Bovidae
- The place Discovered: Jap and Southern Africa
- Conservation Standing: Least Concern
The blue wildebeest (also called the widespread wildebeest or brindled gnu) is a big antelope discovered within the plains and open woodlands of Africa.
The annual migration of thousands and thousands of blue wildebeest and different herbivores throughout the Serengeti and Maasai Mara is one in all nature’s biggest spectacles.
The blue wildebeest is a keystone species as its grazing maintains the savanna habitat and recycles vitamins throughout the ecosystem. As essential prey animals, the antelopes additionally help populations of predators equivalent to lions and crocodiles.
Cassowaries
- Scientific Identify: Casuarius spp.
- Class: Aves
- Order: Casuariiformes
- Household: Casuariidae
- The place Discovered: New Guinea, close by islands, and northern Australia
- Conservation Standing: Least Concern (all species)
Cassowaries are giant, flightless birds native to the tropical forests of New Guinea, close by islands, and northern Australia. With their hanging blue pores and skin and helmet-like casques on their heads, they’re among the many most distinctive of all birds.
Cassowaries are thought of keystone species as a result of they act as seed dispersers, consuming quite a lot of fruits and spreading the seeds over giant distances by means of their droppings.
The actions of those birds assist keep the range and well being of tropical forests, facilitating forest regeneration and the expansion of many plant species.
Goshawk
- Scientific Identify: Accipiter gentilis
- Class: Aves
- Order: Accipitriformes
- Household: Accipitridae
- The place Discovered: Northern Hemisphere (North America, Europe, Asia)
- Conservation Standing: Least Concern
The Eurasian Goshawk is a big raptor with grey upperparts, black and white banded chest and white eyebrow stripe.
Inhabiting forests throughout Europe, Asia, and elements of North Africa, the goshawk preys on a variety of animals, together with birds, small mammals, and infrequently reptiles.
The Eurasian Goshawk performs a crucial position in sustaining ecological steadiness by controlling the populations of its prey, which helps make sure the well being and variety of forest ecosystems.
The associated American goshawk Accipiter atricapillus, present in North America, performs an analogous position in its ecosystem.
Grey Wolf
- Scientific Identify: Canis lupus
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Carnivora
- Household: Canidae
- The place Discovered: Holarctic area (North America, Europe, Asia)
- Conservation Standing: Least Concern
The grey wolf is a big member of the canine household Canidae native to wilderness and distant areas of North America, Europe, and Asia. A extremely social and clever animal, the wolf lives and hunts in prolonged household teams often known as packs.
The grey wolf is taken into account a keystone species on account of its crucial position in sustaining the construction and well being of ecosystems.
As an apex predator, the grey wolf regulates populations of enormous herbivores like deer and elk.
One of the crucial well-documented examples of the grey wolf as a keystone species is the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone Nationwide Park in 1995.
Previous to this time, the park skilled overpopulation of elk, resulting in overgrazing and extreme ecological imbalance. Following the wolves’ reintroduction, elk populations decreased and their conduct modified, lowering grazing strain on vegetation. This allowed willow and aspen to get better, stabilizing riverbanks and fostering habitats for numerous species, together with beavers, whose dams additional enhanced biodiversity by creating ponds and wetlands.
The wolves’ presence within the park additionally influenced different predators and scavengers. By controlling the coyote inhabitants, wolves not directly boosted populations of smaller mammals and birds. Moreover, the carcasses from wolf kills supplied meals for scavengers equivalent to bears, ravens, and eagles.
Grizzly Bear
- Scientific Identify: Ursus arctos horribilis
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Carnivora
- Household: Ursidae
- The place Discovered: North America (Alaska, western Canada, elements of the northwestern United States)
- Conservation Standing: Least Concern
The grizzly bear is a North American brown bear subspecies. This massive, highly effective animal is one in all America’s most iconic species.
The grizzly bear is an omnivore, with a wide-ranging food regimen that features animals as giant as moose and plant matter equivalent to berries and nuts.
As a keystone animal, the grizzly bear helps keep the ecological steadiness of its habitat by controlling prey populations, dispersing seeds in its scat, and influencing the conduct of different wildlife.
Honey Bee
- Scientific Identify: Apis mellifera
- Class: Insecta
- Order: Hymenoptera
- Household: Apidae
- The place Discovered: Worldwide (native to Europe, Asia, and Africa; launched globally)
- Conservation Standing: Knowledge Poor
Honey bees are social bugs identified for his or her crucial position in pollination, which helps the expansion of many crops and wild crops. Whereas amassing nectar and pollen from flowers, the bees additionally transport further pollen to different flowers, permitting the crops to breed.
The bees stay in extremely organized colonies, consisting of a single queen, quite a few employees, and a small variety of drones.
Bees are important for the pollination of as much as one-third of the meals we devour, making them indispensable to each pure ecosystems and agriculture.
Jaguar
- Scientific Identify: Panthera onca
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Carnivora
- Household: Felidae
- The place Discovered: Central and South America
- Conservation Standing: Close to Threatened
The jaguar is the biggest member of the cat household Felidae discovered within the Americas, and the third-largest on the planet, after the tiger and lion.
Like most cats, the jaguar is a solitary predator. It typically hunts at night time, and has a food regimen that features over 85 totally different species, starting from deer and peccaries to caimans and fish.
As a keystone species, the jaguar helps keep the steadiness of its ecosystem by controlling the populations of herbivores and different prey, which in flip helps the well being and variety of plant communities.
Lion
- Scientific Identify: Panthera leo
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Carnivora
- Household: Felidae
- The place Discovered: Sub-Saharan Africa, India (Gir Forest)
- Conservation Standing: Weak
The lion is the second-largest member of the cat household (solely the tiger is bigger). Unusually for cats, which on the whole are solitary hunters, the lion lives in teams often known as prides. A typical delight of lions consists of a number of associated females and their offspring and a small variety of males.
Lions are apex predators, primarily searching giant herbivores equivalent to zebras, wildebeests, and buffaloes, utilizing their cooperative searching methods.
As a keystone species, lions assist regulate prey populations, which prevents overgrazing and maintains the steadiness and biodiversity of their savanna ecosystems.
Milfoil Weevil
No picture obtainable
- Scientific Identify: Euhrychiopsis lecontei
- Class: Insecta
- Order: Coleoptera
- Household: Curculionidae
- The place Discovered: North America
- Conservation Standing: Not Evaluated
Milfoil weevils are small, aquatic beetles focusing on feeding on Eurasian watermilfoil, an Outdated World aquatic plant that’s an invasive species in North America.
The weevils lay their eggs on the plant, and the larvae then burrow into the stems, inflicting vital injury that helps management the unfold of this aggressive species.
Orangutans
- Scientific Identify: Bornean Orangutan – Pongo pygmaeus; Sumatran Orangutan – Pongo abelii; Tapanuli Orangutan – Pongo tapanuliensis
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Primates
- Household: Hominidae
- The place Discovered: Borneo and Sumatra
- Conservation Standing: Critically Endangered (all species)
Orangutans are members of the good ape household Hominidae native to the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra.
These distinctive, red-haired apes are identified for his or her capacity to make use of instruments. Orangutans lead largely solitary lives, and have an omnivorous food regimen primarily consisting of fruit, leaves, bark, and bugs.
As keystone species, orangutans are important for seed dispersal, serving to to take care of the well being and variety of their rainforest habitats by guaranteeing the propagation of quite a lot of plant species.
Pacific Salmon
- Scientific Identify: Oncorhynchus spp.
- Class: Actinopterygii
- Order: Salmoniformes
- Household: Salmonidae
- The place Discovered: North Pacific Ocean and river programs in Asia and North America
- Conservation Standing: Varies by species
Pacific salmon are fish native to rivers that drain into the North Pacific Ocean and to the Pacific Ocean itself. There are six species of Pacific salmon, the biggest of which is the Chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha.
Pacific salmon are anadromous, which signifies that they migrate from the ocean to freshwater rivers to spawn.
Throughout their migration, these keystone species present an important meals supply for quite a lot of predators, together with bears, birds, and people, and their decaying our bodies enrich freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems with marine-derived vitamins.
Purple Sea Star
- Scientific Identify: Pisaster ochraceus
- Class: Asteroidea
- Order: Forcipulatida
- Household: Asteriidae
- The place Discovered: Pacific Ocean (intertidal zones from Alaska to California)
- Conservation Standing: Not Evaluated (latest declines on account of Sea Star Losing Syndrome)
The purple sea star, also called the ochre sea star, is a outstanding predator discovered alongside the rocky intertidal zones of the Pacific coast of North America.
The ocean star / starfish preys totally on mussels, taking part in an important position in controlling the mollusks’ populations and stopping them from dominating the ecosystem. by doing so, this keystone species maintains the ecological steadiness in its intertidal neighborhood by permitting quite a lot of marine organisms to thrive.
The work of zoologist Robert T. Paine within the Nineteen Sixties, which centered on the purple sea star, established the idea of keystone species, which has been utilized by biologists ever since.
Saguaro Cactus
- Scientific Identify: Carnegiea gigantea
- Class: Magnoliopsida
- Order: Caryophyllales
- Household: Cactaceae
- The place Discovered: Sonoran Desert (Arizona, California, Sonora in Mexico)
- Conservation Standing: Least Concern
The saguaro cactus is an iconic plant of the Sonoran Desert within the southwestern United States and Mexico, identified for its towering peak and distinctive arms.
The cactus supplies crucial assets equivalent to meals, water, and shelter to a variety of desert wildlife, together with birds, bats, and bugs.
It is a keystone position, important for sustaining the desert ecosystem’s biodiversity and guaranteeing the survival of the quite a few species that depend upon the cactus for his or her lifecycle wants.
Sea Otter
- Scientific Identify: Enhydra lutris
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Carnivora
- Household: Mustelidae
- The place Discovered: North Pacific Ocean (coastal areas from Alaska to California, Russia, Japan)
- Conservation Standing: Endangered
The ocean otter is a marine mammal discovered alongside the coasts of the northern and japanese North Pacific Ocean, identified for its use of rocks as instruments to open shellfish.
Regardless of being the heaviest member of the weasel household Mustelidae, the ocean otter is the smallest marine mammal.
The ocean otter performs an important position in sustaining the well being of kelp forest ecosystems by preying on sea urchins, which, if left unchecked, can overgraze and decimate kelp forests.
This keystone species is an endangered species; not solely does its personal future cling within the steadiness, but additionally that of the kelp forests that it performs a significant position in sustaining.
Snowshoe Hare
- Scientific Identify: Lepus americanus
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Lagomorpha
- Household: Leporidae
- The place Discovered: North America (boreal forests and mountainous areas)
- Conservation Standing: Least Concern
The snowshoe hare is a small mammal native to North America’s boreal forests and mountainous areas. The colour of its coat modifications from brown in summer time to white in winter, offering efficient year-round camouflage.
The title “snowshoe hare” refers back to the animal’s giant ft, which forestall it from sinking into the snow.
The hare is important prey for quite a lot of northern predators, together with lynxes, foxes, and birds of prey. The snowshoe hare inhabitants has a pure cycle. When the hares are plentiful, the quantity of willow and different vegetation diminishes, ultimately leading to fewer hares and a corresponding abundance of vegetation.
Instantly linked to the snowshoe hare inhabitants is that of the Canada lynx, a pure predator of the hare.
The connection between predator, prey and vegetation highlights the significance of keystone species such because the snowshoe hare in sustaining the pure steadiness of ecosystems all through the world.
Additional Studying
Go to our most important animals web page for hyperlinks to animal info and an entire information to the animal kingdom: Animals
You possibly can see examples of apex predators on this web page: Apex Predators
You possibly can see an inventory of various biomes on this web page: Biomes
Uncover extra about ecosystems on this web page: What Is An Ecosystem?
