Coyote: A Keystone Carnivore

Reader Contribution by Geri Vistein
Published on December 4, 2015
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“Your land is an ecosystem.” I will very probably write that statement on every one of my blog entries, because it is vitally important to understand its true meaning.

Every member of an ecosystem community needs to be present in order to keep your land healthy and vibrant. That includes the carnivores – both terrestrial and avian. But one carnivore affects that ecosystem community more than the others: the keystone carnivore. And coyotes play the role of the keystone carnivore in many of the landscapes of North America.

Coyote by Forest Hart

So what is a keystone carnivore anyway? As I stated above, a number of carnivores share landscapes across our continent with each other, each filling important niches in their own right. However, the keystone carnivore has the greatest positive impact on the community of life within a landscape. Whenever that carnivore kills another species in order to survive — most often their prey are herbivores — they keep the numbers of that species’ population in check, and by doing so help that species to maintain robust health, genetic vitality and protection from widespread disease.

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