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Do you think there can be an overabundance of a keystone species?

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Sea Otters -> Sea Urchins -> Kelp.
Sea otters would control the sea urchins eating the kelp; they are the keystone species.

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Do you think it’s possible for trophic cascades to be completely reversed? Why or why not?

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When an organism is removed it can change the chemical makeup of the water

Ex. Lakes

They are vulnerable to trophic cascades and removing the top predators had changed the activity and how the bacteria reacted.

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All over the world in every ecosystem (aquatic, terrestrial, and aerial)

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There are various types of trophic cascades. A top-down cascade, a bottom-up cascade and subsidy cascade.

Top-Down Cascade

This occurs when a top predator is removed, this will make herbivores much more common which will devastate plant life in the long run.

Bottom-Up Cascade

This type of trophic cascade occurs when there's a change to the bottom level of the food chain. Vegetation is devastated causing herbivores to die off or migrate elsewhere leaving top predators with nothing.

Subsidy Cascade

This occurs when animals rely on food sources that are external to their ecosystem.

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Trophic cascade, an ecological phenomenon triggered by the addition or removal of top predators and involving reciprocal changes in the relative populations of predator and prey through a food chain, which often results in dramatic changes in ecosystem structure and nutrient cycling.

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How quickly do you think other species adapt to the effects of the reintroduction or removal of a keystone species, or if they even adapt at all? Do you think effects like invasive species can occur? Can invasive keystone species exist?

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They can be any size; a keystone species called the amphipod is the size of a grain of rice

Depending on which ecosystem you look at, basically anything could be a keystone species

Due to the small size of some keystone species like amphipods, it’s not always easy to protect the species themselves but their habitats

Protecting keystone species and their habitats is important as we would be saving not only the species itself but other species and their food sources as well

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Episode I

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How keystone species are related to food webs

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How keystone species are related to food webs

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Food webs - systems that are crucial in understanding how all animals are interconnected

Studying ecosystems' inhabitants and their relationships with one another allows us to better protect our world's ecosystems

Every animal has a specific diet and thus occupies a tropic niche, a certain place in a food web

By studying what animals eat in the wild, we can predict their chances of survival more accurately

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Whether directly or indirectly, in what ways do you think the endangerment or extinction of beavers - a significant keystone species - would affect you or your community?

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Through the strength of their interactions with other species within their environment

By studying their traits, what they eat, and the habitats they create

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Trophic cascade - the effects caused by a keystone species' removal or reintroduction to an ecosystem
Ex. the removal of wolves in Yellowstone Park led to dire consequences. When they were reintroduced; the elk population fell, and vegetation grew everywhere, giving beavers more dam materials, which gave homes to fish, reptiles, and other animals.

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In 1963, when they were removed from a shoreline, the ecosystem's biodiversity collapsed. Its prey, mussels overtook all the other species like algae, barnacles, and snails; creating a monoculture.

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What was the first keystone species identified?

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What was the first keystone species identified?

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Predatory purple starfish

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Keystone Species and Their Role in Ecosystems

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Keystone Species and Their Role in Ecosystems

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Keystone species - a species that has a dramatic impact on the communities and ecosystems it exists within

Keystone species maintain biodiversity and carry out a function that no other species in the ecosystem can

Their ecosystem would change dramatically or even collapse if they become endangered or extinct

Examples of keystone species: grey wolves, beavers, sea otters, and more

Many are classified as vulnerable, endangered, or extinct

Are vital to not only their communities and ecosystems but to humans as well as we rely on the resources of ecosystems (i.e. food, shelter, etc.)