KEYSTONE SPECIES AND THEIR

IMPORTANCE

A keystone species is an organism that defines an entire ecosystem.

Without keystone species of an ecosystem, it would be dramatically
different or cease to exist altogether.

HISTORY:

The concept of the keystone species was introduced in 1969 by zoologist

Robert T. Paine. Paine developed the concept to explain his observations
and experiments on the relationships between marine invertebrates of the
intertidal zone (between the high and low tide lines), including starfish
and mussels. He removed the starfish from an area and documented the
effects on the ecosystem. In his 1966 paper, Food Web Complexity and
Species Diversity, Paine described such a system in Makah Bay in
Washington.

DEFINITIONS:

 A keystone species was defined by Paine as a species that has a large

effect on its environment relative to its abundance.
 It has been defined operationally by Davic in 2003 as "a strongly
interacting species whose top-down effect on species diversity and

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 competition is large relative to its biomass dominance within a
functional group”.

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TYPES OF KEYSTONE SPECIES:
There are three types of keystone species which
are mentioned below:

 PREDATORS
 MUTUALISTS
 PREY

These are described below:

o KEYSTONE PREDATORS:
A classic keystone species is a predator
that prevents a particular herbivorous species from eliminating
dominant plant species. If prey numbers are less, keystone predators
can be even less abundant and still be effective. Keystone predators may
increase the biodiversity of communities by preventing a single species
from becoming dominant. They can have a major influence on the
balance of organisms in a specific ecosystem. The introduction or
removal of a keystone predator, or fluctuations in its population density,
can have major cascading effects on the equilibrium of many other
populations in the ecosystem. For example, grazers of a grassland may
prevent a single dominant species from taking over.

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EXAMPLE:

The elimination of the gray wolf from the Greater Yellowstone

Ecosystem had profound impacts on the trophic pyramid. Without
predation, herbivores began to over-graze many woody browse species,
affecting the area's plant populations.

o KEYSTONE MUTUALISTS:

Keystone mutualists are organisms that

participate in mutually beneficial interaction, the loss of which would
have a profound impact on the ecosystem as a whole.

EXAMPLE:

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In the Avon Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, there is a period
each year when Banksia prionotes (acorn banksia) are the sole source of
nectar for honeyeaters, which play an important role in the pollination of
numerous plant species. Therefore, the loss of this one species of tree

would probably cause the

honeyeater population to

collapse, with profound

implications for the entire ecosystem.

are beneficial to a myriad of species including amphibians, salmon, and

songbirds.

KEYSTONE PREY
Keystone prey, which can cause significant fluctuations in predator
densities. Pacific salmon are keystone prey playing a vital role in
Pacific Northwest Ecosystems and directly benefiting eighty-nine birds,
forty-one mammals, five reptiles, and two amphibians through

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 ecosystem nutrient loading.

The black-bellied salamander is another keystone prey

species that provides a large amount of protein biomass for predators in
certain stream ecosystems in the southeastern U.S.

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IMPORTANCE OF KEYSTONE SPECIES:

 Keystone species are solely responsible for maintaining the local

species diversity.
 Without keystone predators, one prey population will explode and
lead to the extinction of other populations, as in the case of the
mussels in the Tatoosh Islands.
 They create niches that other organisms can enter. For example, if
the elephants of the Savannah became extinct, it would lead to the
extinction of all the plant species that depend on them for seed
dispersal.
 Likewise, populations of zebras would fall drastically, because,
without elephants, there would be fewer water resources for them.
 Keystone species which are food resources, like figs, would affect
the population of animals that depend on them for food. Again, it
would lead to extreme competition and/or extinction of many
species in that ecosystem.