What species in michigan are keystone species?

Question

What species in michigan are keystone species?

Answer 1

It's unlikely that you will be able to work it out until they are gone. While an ecosystem might be able to maintain itself with one or more species absent, sometimes the impact of a particular species is not obvious until it's gone.

Honeybees (current hot topic) are regarded as a keystone species by some because they do so much pollination. However, in their absence another species, such as bumble bees or butterflies, might multiply to take over their niche.

Moreover, the state is not an ecological concept - many ecosystems exist within and across the state borders, and each one may have one or more keystone species.

One candidate for forest wetland habitat is, of course, the beaver. Their dams create the wetlands and alter the habitat significantly, so if the beavers were to disappear, the forests would become drier and many wetland species would also disappear. But then a different habitat would be created, and a different ecosystem evolve or move in to take advantage of it.

For much of Michigan, removing humans would drastically alter the landscape, and some forms of wildlife would suffer as a result. Rats, domestic animals, headlice - that kind of thing.

Of course, all the others would benefit enormously.