What Effect Do Keystone Species Have On An Ecosystem

Paine such species are described as playing a critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community affecting many other organisms in an ecosystem and helping to determine the types and numbers.

A keystone species is a species which has a disproportionately large effect on its natural environment relative to its abundance a concept introduced in 1969 by the zoologist robert t. Any being from an animal down to fungi may be a keystone species. In an ecological community these species are needed for they are the ones which are described as the ones playing the critical role of maintaining the structure of the ecosystem. Keystone species have low functional redundancy.

Without its keystone species the ecosystem would be dramatically different or cease to exist altogether. They are the predators mutualists and engineers in. A keystone species is a life form that affects an entire ecosystem. If the keystone species disappear from the ecosystem no other species can do its job.