Keystone Species Examples: How Predators Create Abundance and Stability

One thing Keystone species all have in common: remove them, and the effects will trickle down through the entire ecosystem in which each lives. Nature is more than a collection of many autonomous, individual species — an immense, interconnected community.

By Douglas H. Chadwick
Updated on November 8, 2024
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by MINDEN PICTURES
Long reviled as beasts of waste and desolation, wolves — along with other keystone predators — actually bring ecological stability to the habitats in which they live.

Keystone species examples come in many shapes and sizes. Some are big (grizzly bears), some are small (starfish), and some are vegans (elephants). Learn more about keystone species and the entire ecosystem in which each lives.

The day came clouded and wind-tossed, with 5 inches of fresh snow in the valley and a lot more piling up overhead on the peaks. It was early December in Montana in Glacier National Park. Although winter wouldn’t officially start for another two weeks, blizzards and bitterly cold temperatures had long since sent the bears into their dens.

But not every bear.

Very large, very fresh paw prints on the trail in front of me said at least one grizzly wasn’t ready to call it quits for the year.

Sleeping in underground dens keeps bears safe and insulated through the snow-smothered months while they live off reserves of fat. The biggest and most powerful ones — adult male grizzlies — sometimes leave their hidden chambers to roam about during midwinter thaws. Before, few naturalists realized these heavy-bodied bears could stay out through much colder conditions as long as they were able to take in more energy from food than they burned trying to find it. Then wolves returned to the American West.

The Food Web Surrounding Wolves

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