Wolves - the quintessential keystone species

The short answer question on Unit 2 Lesson 8 quiz was a difficult one.

Describe what happens when a keystone species is removed from an ecosystem.

Many of you got 0 or 1 points on this question - but, to be fair, I’m grading this question pretty tough. That’s because I want you to consider the specific details of the effects that a keystone species has on its ecosystem. Of course, we know that a keystone species is important and that it keeps its ecosystem in “balance”. I don’t want you to just give the definition of a keystone species. I want you to describe how a keystone species keeps its ecosystem in balance. Describe the chain of events that could occur if a keystone species were to disappear from its ecosystem.

Here’s the good news.

As always you can earn points back on quizzes in Biology. Here’s how you can with this question.

First, watch this video.

Now, think about this question and write a response:

How does the presence of the wolves affect both the living and the non-living things in Yellowstone?

Note - you can write your answer casually. Imagine you are describing what you learned from this video to a friend.

Send me the answer to this question in webmail in order to earn points back on the quiz. As always, you can book a meeting with me to work on this together.

Mr. Sweeney

PS - Just in case you are interested in learning more, check out this article from yellowstonepark.com