Like the keystone that supports an archway in architectural design, keystone species sustain ecosystems. The loss of keystone species may usher in ecosystem collapse.

The present biodiversity crisis, caused by human activities such as oil and gas development, livestock grazing, logging, mining, and urban sprawl, features extinction rates at 1,000 to 10,000 times the natural extinction rate. Under the federal Endangered Species Act, passed by Congress in 1973, species facing imperilment or extinction must be provided with protection by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The Bush Administration’s refusal to provide species on the brink with urgently needed ESA listing and protections makes the work of groups such as Forest Guardians absolutely vital if we are to preserve the rich variety and abundance of native animals, plants, and ecosystems in the U.S.

With the overwhelming loss of native species and habitats, Forest Guardians focuses on species whose defense will provide collateral protections to other wildlife, plants, and habitats. Enter keystone species…

The Keystone Approach to Saving Species

Keystone species perform important ecological roles through creating habitat and acting as prey or predator. Like the keystone that supports an archway in architectural design, keystone species sustain ecosystems. The loss of keystone species may usher in ecosystem collapse, in the form of waves of secondary extinctions. One of Forest Guardians’ primary legal and policy strategies will be to require FWS to adopt an approach to prioritizing species that reflects the ESA’s purpose of providing protection to imperiled species and the ecosystems of which they are a part.

Rodent Keystones

Many rodents play crucial keystone roles in the habitats where they live. Keystone rodents include beavers, prairie dogs, pocket gophers, and kangaroo rats. Each of these rodents engineer ecosystems by modifying soil structure and fertility, shaping plant communities, providing a prey base for predators, and creating habitat for associated plants and animals. Unfortunately, the ecological labor these rodents perform is, at best, underappreciated by humans. On private and public lands alike, rodents are poisoned, shot, trapped, plowed, or bulldozed.. Read the fact sheet (PDF)

Black-tailed prairie Dog
Gunnison’s prairie Dog
Utah prairie Dog