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Keystone species

About: Keystone species is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 922 publications have been published within this topic receiving 53985 citations.


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Book ChapterDOI
01 Apr 1994-Oikos
TL;DR: The role that many organisms play in the creation, modification and maintenance of habitats does not involve direct trophic interactions between species, but they are nevertheless important and common.
Abstract: Interactions between organisms are a major determinant of the distribution and abundance of species. Ecology textbooks (e.g., Ricklefs 1984, Krebs 1985, Begon et al. 1990) summarise these important interactions as intra- and interspecific competition for abiotic and biotic resources, predation, parasitism and mutualism. Conspicuously lacking from the list of key processes in most text books is the role that many organisms play in the creation, modification and maintenance of habitats. These activities do not involve direct trophic interactions between species, but they are nevertheless important and common. The ecological literature is rich in examples of habitat modification by organisms, some of which have been extensively studied (e.g. Thayer 1979, Naiman et al. 1988).

5,407 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is suggested that local animal species diversity is related to the number of predators in the system and their efficiency in preventing single species from monopolizing some important, limiting, requisite in the marine rocky intertidal.
Abstract: It is suggested that local animal species diversity is related to the number of predators in the system and their efficiency in preventing single species from monopolizing some important, limiting, requisite. In the marine rocky intertidal this requisite usually is space. Where predators capable of preventing monopolies are missing, or are experimentally removed, the systems become less diverse. On a local scale, no relationship between latitude (10⚬ to 49⚬ N.) and diversity was found. On a geographic scale, an increased stability of annual production may lead to an increased capacity for systems to support higher-level carnivores. Hence tropical, or other, ecosystems are more diverse, and are characterized by disproportionately more carnivores.

4,834 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on individual species and the processes threatening them, and human-perceived landscape patterns and their correlation with species and assemblages, as well as additional, stochastic threats such as habitat loss, habitat degradation, habitat isolation and habitat isolation.
Abstract: Landscape modification and habitat fragmentation are key drivers of global species loss. Their effects may be understood by focusing on: (1) individual species and the processes threatening them, and (2) human-perceived landscape patterns and their correlation with species and assemblages. Individual species may decline as a result of interacting exogenous and endogenous threats, including habitat loss, habitat degradation, habitat isolation, changes in the biology, behaviour, and interactions of species, as well as additional, stochastic threats. Human-perceived landscape patterns that are frequently correlated with species assemblages include the amount and structure of native vegetation, the prevalence of anthropogenic edges, the degree of landscape connectivity, and the structure and heterogeneity of modified areas. Extinction cascades are particularly likely to occur in landscapes with low native vegetation cover, low landscape connectivity, degraded native vegetation and intensive land use in modified areas, especially if keystone species or entire functional groups of species are lost. This review (1) demonstrates that species-oriented and pattern-oriented approaches to understanding the ecology of modified landscapes are highly complementary, (2) clarifies the links between a wide range of interconnected themes, and (3) provides clear and consistent terminology. Tangible research and management priorities are outlined that are likely to benefit the conservation of native species in modified landscapes around the world.

2,068 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The recognition that some ecosystems have keystone species whose activities govern the well-being of many other species suggests an approach that may unite the best features of single-species and ecosystem management.

1,490 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The term keystone species has enjoyed an enduring popularity in the ecological literature since its introduction by Robert T. Paine in 1969 and it is implicit that these species are exceptional, relative to the rest of the community, in their importance.
Abstract: 1Will the extinction of a single species in a community cause the loss of many others? Can we identify a set of species that are so important in determining the ecological functioning of a community that they warrant special conservation efforts? The answer to these questions hinges on the existence of a limited number of species whose loss would precipitate many further extinctions; these species have often been labeled keystone species. The term keystone species has enjoyed an enduring popularity in the ecological literature since its introduction by Robert T. Paine in 1969: Paine (1969) was cited in more than 92 publications from 1970 to 1989; an earlier paper (Paine 1966), which introduced the phenomenon of keystone species in intertidal systems but did not use the term, was cited more than 850 times during the same period. As used by Paine and other ecologists, there are two hallmarks of keystone species. First, their presence is crucial in maintaining the organization and diversity of their ecological communities. Second, it is implicit that these species are exceptional, relative to the rest of the community, in their importance.

1,122 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
202345
202292
2021100
202074
201947
201849