Where the Wild Things Were

Keystone species, despite their seemingly ordinary abundance, play a critical role in shaping entire ecosystems. Their removal triggers a domino effect known as a trophic cascade. Imagine a predator like a sea otter keeping sea urchin populations in check. If the otters disappear, the urchins explode in number, devouring kelp forests. This devastates the habitat for countless species, demonstrating how the loss of a single keystone species can ripple through the food chain with dramatic consequences.

• Convention on Biological Diversity – Saving Endangered Keystone Species: Key to Ecosystem Restoration
• Hale and Koprowski – Ecosystem-level effects of keystone species reintroduction: a literature review
• Coe and Gaoue – Cultural keystone species revisited: are we asking the right questions?