Talk:Keystone species

December 2006
This material is so deficient as to be misleading. Not even a stub, rather a stubbin. Who can help?

It's important that certain ecosystem impacts of keystone species be addressed. Maybe someone can speak to the ability of a keystone species to promote or ensure diversity within a given system. Perhaps utilizing the classic starfish model.

169.231.32.113 00:20, 7 December 2006 (UTC)Samuel

December 2007
I've removed domestic cats as being a key stone species/predator. I believe feral cats may be in some cases, but I know of none. Domestic cats are artificially high in abundance, due to their home food supply, than the environment would allow (e.g. number of bobcats in wild). This is along with their hunting habits allows for a much greater impact on the environment than their relative biomass. Their instinct to hunt for means other than food only harm other populations on animals, and does not benefit the ecosystem or local food web as a keystone predator would. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.16.173.54 (talk) 19:14, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

Key species
Can "key species" redirect to "keystone species"? I think, that yes, but I have no evidence.--Snek01 (talk) 23:48, 29 January 2011 (UTC)

July 2011
Article remains deficient to the point of maybe being misleading. Under examples, three types are listed, as though these are the only ways a species might function as an ecosystem keystone. Oysters, for example, fit into none of those categories. Rentstrike (talk) 23:33, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

April 2012
I agree with the above comments but I would also suggest including the discussion on the issues with the Keystone Concept - A number of authors have distorted the definition.

I think the most important part missing is the idea the keystone species are context dependent eg. A species maybe a KS in an area, but if the same community assemblage is examined in a different environment that species may not be playing the KS role — Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.237.97.231 (talk) 23:41, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

Are Humans a Keystone species?
all in the title? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.248.178.102 (talk) 04:34, 28 May 2012 (UTC)

"Beaver dam lake" -- photo caption error?
If the specific lake featured in the photo is named "Beaver Dam Lake," then all words in the caption must be capitalized. If "beaver dam [sic]" is the action being described, then it is "Beaver dams lake" if there is one beaver featured, and "Beavers dam lake" if there is more than one beaver. (In either case, only the first word in the caption is capitalized.) I'm going to make the change under the assumption that the caption describes an action. Please change accordingly if "Beaver Dam Lake" is a proper noun. Joeletaylor (talk) 04:53, 27 June 2013 (UTC)

North American Fraxinus
Discuss Possible addition of present ongoing event involving Extant and Extinction of... Fraxinus Ash classified as a "Keystone" species of the Riparian Elm-Ash-Cottonwood ecosystem, has been well documented through field studies observations succumbing to the invasive Emerald Ash borer before reaching seeding age of 10 when only 1" DBH in stem size. 333 individual species primarily utilizing Fraxinus are being directly shunted into finding lesser available resources, and 44 exclusive to only Ash will inevitably become co-extinct throughout its natural range. This directly involves Forty-three native Arthropods and the non native Emerald Ash borer which also becomes extinct locally once species food supply of living Ash trees (Untreated) are no longer available.CHICAGOCONCERTMAN (talk) 03:24, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

Apex
Are apex predators considered keystone species?  User:Dunkleosteus77 &#124;push to talk 01:08, 23 June 2016 (UTC)

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The Serengeti Rules
Seems like a great resource to use since it heavily details and explains Keystone species in different contexts. Mary Power's catfish aren't mentioned here (see Mary_Eleanor_Power) --Genetics4good (talk) 13:06, 12 March 2021 (UTC)

Gopher Tortoises are a keystone species
The gopher tortoise (gopherus polyphemus) is most definitely a keystone species, and likely belongs under the engineer sub-section. Gopher tortoise burrows are believed to support upwards of 200+ other species (a conservative number, Wikipedia suggests a higher number). I'm not going to make this change myself, but creating a talk section to raise awareness.

Cosmicray (talk) 16:33, 20 March 2020 (UTC)

It isn't a matter of "species x is a KS"; there are certainly many such species, and this is not a list of them. We should only choose to add an illustration in the form of a cited discussion of some species when it broadens the article, showing that something can be a keystone in a new and surprising way. What we emphatically do NOT want to say is "and species a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, and l are instances of similar keystone species". I hope this is clear. By the way, "raising awareness" sounds very much like a forum topic, which is expressly forbidden for Wikipedia talk page. Chiswick Chap (talk) 17:55, 20 March 2020 (UTC)

Tunnel making organisms
Having seen the docu "Bewitched by the Moon" (see https://www.terramater.at/productions/islands-in-time/), I seem to think that besides red and yellow mangrove species and coral (none of which mentioned in article yet), tunnel making organisms such as sea snails are also a engineer keystone species. They provide a safe haven for small goby fish. Not yet mentioned at this article.

Perhaps that moles are also engineering keystone species (I assume it provides shelter for rodents and such) ? --Genetics4good (talk) 12:56, 12 March 2021 (UTC)

Concerns about sentence clarity
made the edits in brackets. I reverted them because editor comments don't go in the article body, but it's good feedback if someone wants to take a stab at fixing this:

– Novem Linguae (talk) 23:28, 30 June 2023 (UTC)

Questions
Are any ants or worms (ever) keystone species? Can an ecosystem have more than one keystone species? 2600:6C67:1C00:5F7E:6D8A:F597:5943:694A (talk) 18:47, 27 November 2023 (UTC)


 * Yes, they are. Ants definitely are, or at least, there is evidence they may be in RS:   I also read that there is more ant biomass than any other living things. Worms, not sure. There are so many different kinds of worms. The common earthworms in the USA are actually an invasive species. Not to mention those jumping worms. They are bad. See Invasive earthworms of North America. These articles  suggest that maybe the bacteria that live in earthworms are keystone taxa, ie the soil microbiota. Andre🚐 20:48, 27 November 2023 (UTC)