Keystone Species

Keystone species play the largest role in their ecosystems, and they not only impact the animals directly around them, but they impact the ecosystem around them as a whole and actually impact the landscape around them. When wolves were returned to Yellowstone, we saw ecosystems return to much healthier levels because that is how they were naturally meant to be; the check and balance system of the predator prey relationship keep the ecosystem much healthier. 

Wolves are a keystone species because of how they impact other species around them and the landscape. Without wolves, the vegetation wasn't being given enough of a chance to grow because elk and other grazing animals would just eat all the vegetation. Entire forests of saplings were being eaten destroying the plant life, and the populations of these herbivores was reaching the point where it was headed toward a collapse. Eventually there would not have been enough resources to support these huge populations and thousands would die off changing the ecosystem completely. Wolves not only kill and eat animals, they also keep the herds on the move so they can't over graze one area. Also areas where the herd would be easily trapped, they avoid, which allows for more full forest growth. The vegetation can help to keep river banks stable and prevent erosion of the river banks. Last but not least, wolves also help other species survive by decreasing certain species of herbivores, and also providing food for other species.

Looking around the world, many keystone species populations are threatened, especially keystone predators. These large animals require the most land to meet their survival needs, and with constant human expansion it leaves them with less and less space for survival. As their numbers decrease, it makes them much more at risk to extinction because of the lack of genetic diversity. If we lose our keystone predators, it will be fully humans responsibility to maintain populations of hundreds of organisms, and we have seen how that goes. There is also the issue of the social stigma that I always talk about that hinders these animals survival, it is because not many humans know the truth about them, just the negative stereotypes. You are much less likely to help an animal if you are scared of it or think it is a man eater, so we need to realize these animals just want to be left alone and given their space.

As human beings we need to realize that we hold the future of the world in our hands, we control the fate of every species in the world, including our own. Soon though we are going to have changed the environment so much that we will not be able to reverse the damage we have caused, and we will meet the same end of many species before us. These species help keep stable and healthy the ecosystems we have already damaged, and we need them to minimize the damage we have already caused.