blog #9
Keystone Species
by: Stephen C. Wagner
2010
Nature Education
Keystone species are essential to the health and overall functioning of biological communities. Compared to an "arch's crown" within the article, keystone species serve to maintain the structure and integrity of a community. As seen within an experiment conducted using the impact of a top predator, in this case starfish, as essential to the functionality of an intertidal community, the region where the starfish had been artificially removed experienced rapid growth of lower level consumers. With the growth of these populations now unchecked, producers were wiped out.
[the figure above shows how biodiversity in the intertidal zone declined after the starfish was removed]
To be classified as a keystone, "a species [must] exert top‐down influence on lower trophic levels and prevents species at lower trophic levels from monopolizing critical resources, such as competition for space or key producer food sources". Other examples of keystone species are sea otters, who regulate sea urchin populations, and fire ants, who regulate the populations of arthropods which could be potentially damaging to agriculture.
by: Stephen C. Wagner
2010
Nature Education
Keystone species are essential to the health and overall functioning of biological communities. Compared to an "arch's crown" within the article, keystone species serve to maintain the structure and integrity of a community. As seen within an experiment conducted using the impact of a top predator, in this case starfish, as essential to the functionality of an intertidal community, the region where the starfish had been artificially removed experienced rapid growth of lower level consumers. With the growth of these populations now unchecked, producers were wiped out.
[the figure above shows how biodiversity in the intertidal zone declined after the starfish was removed]
To be classified as a keystone, "a species [must] exert top‐down influence on lower trophic levels and prevents species at lower trophic levels from monopolizing critical resources, such as competition for space or key producer food sources". Other examples of keystone species are sea otters, who regulate sea urchin populations, and fire ants, who regulate the populations of arthropods which could be potentially damaging to agriculture.
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