Ecology and Field Techniques

Ecological Principles

KEYSTONE
SPECIES
Lecture #5
2010 October 10
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 DEFINITION
A keystone species is a species whose very
presence contributes to a diversity of life
and whose extinction would consequently
lead to the extinction of other forms of life.

 Keystone species help to support the

ecosystem (entire community of life) of
which they are a part.
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 IMPORTANCE
A keystone species is a species that has a disproportionate
effect on its environment relative to its abundance.

 Such an organism plays a role in its ecosystem that is

analogous to the role of a keystone in an arch.

While the keystone feels the least pressure of any of the

stones in an arch, the arch still collapses without it.

Similarly, an ecosystem may experience a dramatic shift if

a keystone species is removed, even though that species
was a small part of the ecosystem by measures of biomass
or productivity. It has become a very popular concept in
conservation biology.
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 Keystone Species – Within Habitats
Within a habitat, each species connects to and depends on other
species, and each species contributes to the overall integrity of
the habitat. But, while each species contributes to habitat
functioning, some species apparently do more than others in the
overall scheme of things. Some species provide essential services
that are also unique.

Without the work of these key species, the habitat changes

significantly. Scientists call these pivotal players keystone
species. When a keystone species disappears from its habitat,
that habitat changes dramatically.

The keystone's disappearance triggers the loss of other resident

species, and the intricate connections among the remaining
residents begin to unravel. In a "domino effect," species losses
cascade through the habitat, as the loss of one species prompts
4 the loss of still others.
 Keystone Species :
As Resident Species
As resident species vanish, other species move in or
become more abundant. The altered mix of species
changes the habitat's appearance and character.

 The "new" habitat looks different from the original one,

and it houses a new mix of plants and animals.

 Often, the new habitat supports fewer species and works

less efficiently than the original one: nutrients and
energy turn over more slowly and less efficiently,
biological diversity dwindles and the landscape begins to
change.

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 Elephants as Keystone Species in
Grasslands
 Elephants appear to be keystone species in African grasslands. That is,
without elephants (or some other player to fill the elephants' role), the
grasslands actually cease to exist as grasslands. Take away the elephants,
and the grasslands, which overgrow with woody plants, convert to
forests or to shrub-lands.

 This conversion begins when woody plants, particularly various species

of acacias, sprout among the grasses. Left unchecked, these sprouts can
grow and reproduce, eventually forming a closed stand of trees or
shrubs. Once in place, the stand's interlocking branches and leaves shade
out the grasses. Without enough sunlight to survive, the grasses dwindle,
the grassland disappears, and a forest or shrub thicket grows in its place.

 As the grasses disappear, so do the throngs of grazing antelopes that

once massed on the grassland and, with them, go the former grassland's
prides, packs and clans of great carnivores. The newly growing forest
feeds fewer species than the former grassland. The forest supports a new
web of life, but a web that is more impoverished and less productive than
6 the one that preceded it.
 Elephants as Keystone Species in Grasslands

As keystone species, elephants stop the progression of grassland to

forest or thicket by weeding out the trees and shrubs. Elephants
browse on these woody plants, yanking young trees out by their roots
or stunting their growth by eating the growth points on their branches.
Even if a tree or two escapes the weeding, they won't last long.
In return for these efforts, elephants feast on the grasses that flourish
in the grassland. This grazing does not harm the grasses, for grasses
are adapted to live in harmony with their grazers. Grasses live
comfortably with grazers by sacrificing a few leaves in exchange for
keeping their roots and growth points intact. Grasses ensure this
compromise by forming leaves that connect to their roots through
week and narrow bases. The weak bases snap when a grazer takes the
leaves into its mouth. Because the leafs break off quickly, the animal
does not pull out the roots or damage the grasses' growth points,
which remain nestled safely below the ground.
Grass and grazer live in harmony. The grazer gains nourishment as it
eats the grasses and then moves on. The grass keeps its roots and
sprouts quickly in the sunlight that floods the recently cleared land.
By feeding elephants and other large grazers, the grassland helps
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ensure its own future.
Elephants as Keystone Species in Grasslands
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 Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs Are
Keystone Species of the Prairie
Ecosystem

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 More than 200 other wildlife species
have been observed on or nearKeystone Species
prairie dog colonies. Some of these – Prairie Dog
animals depend on prairie dogs as a
food source or for their habitat.

 Among those animals associated

with prairie dogs and their colonies
are bald and golden eagles, swift
foxes, coyotes, ferruginous hawks,
burrowing owls, badgers and black-
footed ferrets.

 Countless insects and some plants

are also associated with prairie dog
towns. Countless plants and
invertebrate species also rely
heavily on prairie dogs and their
activities.
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 As a keystone species, black-tailed prairie dogs
impact the prairie ecosystem in multiple ways:

1. Their burrows act as homes to other

creatures, including burrowing
Keystone Species –
owls, badgers, rabbits, black-footed
ferrets, snakes, salamanders, and Prairie Dog
insects.
2. Their burrowing activity works to
loosen and churn up the soil,
increasing its ability to sustain plant
life.
3. Their foraging and feeding practices
enable a more nutritious, diverse
and nitrogen-rich mixture of grasses
and forbs (broad-leafed vegetation)
to grow.
4. The enriched vegetation attracts an
amazing array of wildlife who graze
in their colonies.
5. Black-tailed prairie dogs play an
integral role in the prairie food
chain; they are a critical food source
for such animals as the endangered
black-footed ferret, swift fox,
coyotes, hawks, eagles and badgers.
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 Prairie Dog Food Chain
As a keystone species, black-tailed prairie dogs impact the prairie
ecosystem in multiple ways:
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 ECOLOGICAL
NICHE

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 INTRODUCTION
Communities are composed of several populations of
different species living in the same area. By living in the
same habitat, community structure develops from the many
interactions that occur between different populations.

Populations may be involved in a predator and prey

interactions, or they may be involved in a cooperative
relationship, such as symbiosis, mutualism, or
commensalisms.

Through these interactions, populations fit into their

communities by taking a niche, by taking a specific job
within their communities.
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 DEFINITION
A Species Niche describes the total requirements of a species
for all resources and physical conditions determine where it
can live and how abundant it can be at any one place within its
range.

Certain combinations of environmental conditions are

necessary for individuals of each species to tolerate the
physical environment, obtain energy and nutrients, and avoid
predators
The niche of a plant might include the range of temperatures
that it can tolerate, the intensity of light required for
photosynthesis, specific humidity regimes, and minimum
quantities of essential soil nutrients for uptake.

A useful extension of the niche concept is the distinction

15 between fundamental and realized niches
 Species Niche
An organism’s niche describes its function, or job within
a community. Part of a niche is how a species obtains
food, whether they are generalist, or specifically look for
a certain type of prey.

Each species has a fundamental niche, a full range of

environmental conditions in which it can live. But in a
community, competition for resources (e.g. food and
homes) can restrict how much of its fundamental niche
that it can work in.
When a species' niche impede upon another species
niche, both species may find itself in a smaller niche, its
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realized niche.
A completely new feeding pattern has been found among caterpillars native to Hawaii: certain geometrid larvae
(commonly called inchworms) consume no leaves or other plant matter. Instead, they perch inconspicuously along leaf
edges and stems to seize insects that touch their posterior body section. By bending the front of their body backwards in a
very rapid strike, the caterpillars opportunistically capture their prey with elongated, spiny legs and 900 larvae and eggs
of these moths have been collected from native forests of all the main islands and reared in the laboratory. All are species
of Eupithecia, a worldwide group of over 1000 members that had been reported to feed only on plant matter such as
flowers, leaves or seeds. At least 6 of Hawaii’s described Eupithecia species are raptorially carnivorous, only 2 are
known to feed predominantly on plant material, especially Metrosideros flowers. A diet including protein-rich flower
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pollen and a defensive behavior of snapping may have preadapted Hawaii’s ancestral Eupithecia for a shift to predation.
 The Fundamental SPECIES
niche of a species
includes the total range of NICHE
environmental conditions
that are suitable for
existence without the
influence of inter-specific
competition or predation
from other species.

The Realized niche

describes that part of the
fundamental niche actually
occupied by the species.
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 Theobroma cacao originated in
South America, most likely in
the Orinoco River or Amazon
region. However, it is now
Ecological Niche
grown and cultivated in areas
across the world close to the
equator. But this does not mean
that the tree is easy to cultivate.
Its ecological niche is small and
it requires specific conditions to
flourish. One of the most
important of these conditions is
shade. The cacao tree is an
understory tree, requiring the
shade of taller trees called
"mother trees" for protection
from the wind. Plentiful rainfall
is also necessary since it requires
a steady humidity level, along
with steady warm temperatures.
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The green and yellow areas describe the combinations of temperature
and moisture that the species requires for survival and reproduction in
its habitat. This resource space is known as the fundamental niche.
The green area describes the actual combinations of these two
variables that the species utilizes in its habitat. This subset of the
fundamental
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niche is known as the realized niche.
 COMMUNITY
INTERACTIONS

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 Symbiosis
Two species who have a symbiotic relationship have a
close, long-term association. This relationship can be as
close as the green algae Zoochlorellae that live with sea
anemones, providing the anemone with sugar, a by-
product of photosynthesis.

The green algae gains protection, and nutrients from the

anemone's meals. This same genus of plants are found in
many other animals, living in the same close symbiotic
relationship.

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 Mutalism
 Some populations interact in a mutalistic manner in communities,
one form of cooperation. In a mutalistic situation, two populations
benefit equally.

 One example of such a mutalistic cooperation involves two insects,

ants and aphids. Aphids feed on trees by sucking sugary tree sap
out of the tree's phloem. But aphids are not very neat, just look at
cars parked under aphid infested trees. The cars are covered with
tree sap. But not all of the sap reaches the car. Some species of ants
take advantage of this smaller insect by effectively domesticating
the aphids. The ants directs the aphids from plant to plant, then
milk them for the sap like a group of dairy cows.

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 Commensalism
 This occurs when one species benefits from an arrangement,
while the other species does not benefit, but nor does the second
species suffer.

 One example that many viewers of nature shows, and divers of

tropical waters knows is the clown fish. The clown fish lives
among the deadly tentacles of a sea anemone.

 The anemone's tentacles contains nematocyst, which paralyzes the

anemone's prey and protect it against predators. Yet the clown fish
is not stunned. Living within the anemone's tentacles, the clown
fish also gains protection from the nematocyst, as well as food
from left overs of the anemone's meals.

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 Parasitism
The most harmful form of symbiosis is parasitism.
Parasitism benefits one species to the detriment of the
other species. The host species may only suffer a mild a
loss, such as losing nutrients, or the host species may die
because of the parasite's activities.

 An example of parasites are protozoans, like certain

amebas that parasites frog's intestines. Another ameba
was reported in the news recently that caused human
death in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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