Keystone Species

Keystone species

A species that has a disproportinatley large effect on its enviorment compared to its relative abundance( Wolves at Yellowstone)

Keystone vs Foundation

Keystone-has a disproportinatley large effect on its enviorment compared to its relative abundance Foundation-primary producer that dominates an ecosystem in abundance and influence.

efffect of losing keystone species

results in trophic cascade-occurs across all trophic levls, the loss of a keystone can result in an abundance of an organism which results in a shortage of what that organism eats

Yellowstone

The wolves are a keystone species in the yellowstone ecosystem. This is because despite them having an a lot of population they still had an enourmous impact on the ecosystem. Once they were removed there was a trophic cascade at yellowstone. There was suddenly an abundance of elk and coyotes. The elk's eating caused there to be almost no vegatation left. Then when the wolves came back and killed some of the elk the vegataion came back and gave homes to birds and other species as well as giving life to more beavers because beavers like to eat trees. These beavers built damns creating niches for animals in the water. The less coyotes also relulted in an increase of rabits and mice. This meant more hawks and weasles. The carcasses left by the wolves resulted in more bald eagles, ravens and other scavengers. The less elk = less erosion in the rivers and the rivers changed.