3
3
0
What do bison, beaver, wolves and sea otters all have in common?
They’re keystone species. That means they have an outsized impact on their ecosystem. It took humans driving some of these to near extinction to realize just how important they are.
Now animals like the American Bison and North American Beaver are some of the Endangered Species Act’s most notable success stories.
We’re talking about endangered species all this week as part of our series marking the 50th anniversary of the landmark legislation protecting some of our most important fauna and flora. How do we save these keystone species?
Professor Laura Dee mentioned the iNaturalist App for people who want to help track species around the world. You can find it at http://www.inaturalist.org.
They’re keystone species. That means they have an outsized impact on their ecosystem. It took humans driving some of these to near extinction to realize just how important they are.
Now animals like the American Bison and North American Beaver are some of the Endangered Species Act’s most notable success stories.
We’re talking about endangered species all this week as part of our series marking the 50th anniversary of the landmark legislation protecting some of our most important fauna and flora. How do we save these keystone species?
Professor Laura Dee mentioned the iNaturalist App for people who want to help track species around the world. You can find it at http://www.inaturalist.org.
SOS: Saving keystone species
Posted from the1a.orgPosted in these groups: 
Wildlife
Wildlife
Posted 6 mo ago
Responses: 1
1
1
0
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
"Ecosystem restoration is on the global agenda. The United Nations is dedicating a Decade to it, it’s at the heart of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, and it’s the theme for World Wildlife Day 2022. But what does ecosystem restoration actually mean?
Ecosystem restoration
The goal of restoration is to protect and recover the integrity of damaged, destroyed and intact ecosystems, including a rich array of freshwater, marine and land ecosystems, as well as urban areas. According to the IPBES Global Assessment, 75% of land worldwide has been significantly changed, 66% of ocean area is experiencing increasing negative impacts, and over 85% of global wetlands have been lost. Between 2010 and 2015, around 32 million hectares of primary or recovering forest were lost in megadiverse tropics. Faced with the unprecedented degradation of the natural world, ecosystem restoration is more important than ever. However, restoration efforts cannot be effective unless we protect keystone species within these ecosystems, especially those that are endangered.
Endangered Keystone species
Keystone species are species that are key in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystems they belong to [IUCN]. Without keystone species, ecosystems and all species living in them would experience drastic changes that could threaten their existence. Global ecosystem restoration efforts depend on urgent action to conserve endangered keystone species.
Jaguars
Among the many keystone species that are vulnerable or already endangered is the jaguar (Panthera onca). The jaguar is the largest feline of the Americas, and plays a key apex predator role in forests and grasslands by maintaining balance in the food chain and preserving a healthy ecosystem [Ifaw]. For example, jaguars prey on other mammals such as deer, peccaries and capybaras, and without them these species would overpopulate and cause devastating impacts on vegetation. This would lead to the loss of thousands more species."
"Ecosystem restoration is on the global agenda. The United Nations is dedicating a Decade to it, it’s at the heart of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, and it’s the theme for World Wildlife Day 2022. But what does ecosystem restoration actually mean?
Ecosystem restoration
The goal of restoration is to protect and recover the integrity of damaged, destroyed and intact ecosystems, including a rich array of freshwater, marine and land ecosystems, as well as urban areas. According to the IPBES Global Assessment, 75% of land worldwide has been significantly changed, 66% of ocean area is experiencing increasing negative impacts, and over 85% of global wetlands have been lost. Between 2010 and 2015, around 32 million hectares of primary or recovering forest were lost in megadiverse tropics. Faced with the unprecedented degradation of the natural world, ecosystem restoration is more important than ever. However, restoration efforts cannot be effective unless we protect keystone species within these ecosystems, especially those that are endangered.
Endangered Keystone species
Keystone species are species that are key in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystems they belong to [IUCN]. Without keystone species, ecosystems and all species living in them would experience drastic changes that could threaten their existence. Global ecosystem restoration efforts depend on urgent action to conserve endangered keystone species.
Jaguars
Among the many keystone species that are vulnerable or already endangered is the jaguar (Panthera onca). The jaguar is the largest feline of the Americas, and plays a key apex predator role in forests and grasslands by maintaining balance in the food chain and preserving a healthy ecosystem [Ifaw]. For example, jaguars prey on other mammals such as deer, peccaries and capybaras, and without them these species would overpopulate and cause devastating impacts on vegetation. This would lead to the loss of thousands more species."
(1)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google