Markela Sharnae Hardy
SC4730: Environmental Science
Week 3: Analysis 1
7/21/2014
A keystone species is a species that has an unreasonably large effect on its environment relative to its large quantity. Man species play critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community, affecting many other organisms in an ecosystem and helping to determine the types and numbers of various other species in the community. There are different examples of keystone species which there could be predators, mutualists, and engineers. Since the prey numbers are low, the keystone predator numbers can be even lower and still be effective. Keystone mutualists are organisms that participate in mutually beneficial interactions, the loss of which would have a profound impact upon the ecosystem as a whole. Although the terms 'keystone' and 'engineer' are used interchangeably, which is better understood as a subcategory of keystone species.
Out of all the keystone species in the world the one that I am most fascinated with is the jaguar. The jaguar is largely a solitary and opportunistic predator at the top of the food chain. It is a keystone species, playing an important role in stabilizing ecosystems and regulating the populations of the animals it hunts. The jaguar has been numbered as the near threatened in Central and South America. The jaguar acts as a keystone predator because of its widely varied diet, and they also help balance the mammalian jungle ecosystem with its consumption of 87 different species of prey.

Works Cited
Mills, L. Scott, Michael E. Soule, and Daniel F. Doak. "The keystone-species concept in ecology and conservation." BioScience 43.4 (1993): 219-224.

Paine, R.T. (1995). "A Conversation on Refining the Concept of Keystone Species". Conservation Biology 9 (4): 962–964