Keystone Species

A keystone species is defined as an organism that helps to define an entire ecosystem. No other species can fill its ecological niche, and without it the ecosystem would be very different or cease to exist. Passenger pigeons are an example of one keystone species that once filled the skies. They once made up about 25-40 percent of the total bird population when Europeans first discovered America. This would be nearly half, if not more than the current human population. Passenger pigeons were a keystone species because they influenced forests by both enriching them, and also by acting as  a dominating force which must have manipulated their ecosystem with their vast and sky-blackening migrations. I think that we should prioritize keystone species above other conservation to a certain degree because it can be argued that every species has an important role. Sadly, it is usually hard to tell what species are keystone species until it is too late, which is why we should conserve as many species as possible because any of these could be keystone species.