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Measures of species biodiversity, such as richness (i.e., the number of species present) and evenness (i.e., their relative abundance), describe an ecological community’s structure. Many factors affect community structure, including abiotic factors (e.g., sunlight and nutrients), disturbances (e.g., fire or flood), species interactions (e.g., predation or competition), and chance events (e.g., foreign species invasion). Certain species—such as keystone species—also play a...
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Humans as a Hyperkeystone Species.

Boris Worm1, Robert T Paine2

  • 1Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H4R2, Canada.

Trends in Ecology & Evolution
|June 18, 2016
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Humans are identified as a "hyperkeystone" species, significantly impacting ecosystems globally by influencing other keystone species. Understanding these complex human-driven ecological interactions is crucial for conservation efforts.

Keywords:
biodiversity.global changehuman ecologyinteraction chainskeystone species

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Conservation Biology
  • Human Ecology

Background:

  • Keystone species exert disproportionately large effects on ecosystems relative to their abundance.
  • Human activities have widespread and often indirect impacts across diverse global habitats.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To introduce and define the concept of a 'hyperkeystone' species, identifying humans as such.
  • To highlight the complex ecological interaction chains driven by human influence.
  • To emphasize the urgent need to study human impacts on vulnerable species and ecosystems.

Main Methods:

  • Conceptual framework development, integrating human behavior with food-web theory.
  • Analysis of indirect ecological effects and global reach of human activities.
  • Identification of species groups most affected by hyperkeystone interactions.

Main Results:

  • Humans act as a higher-order 'hyperkeystone' species, initiating extensive ecological interaction chains.
  • Human impacts are characterized by strong indirect effects and global reach, affecting ecosystems from marine to forest environments.
  • Marine species and terrestrial large carnivores face particularly high exploitation rates due to human activities.

Conclusions:

  • A deeper understanding of hyperkeystone interaction chains is essential for effective conservation.
  • Innovative approaches combining human behavior studies with food-web ecology are needed.
  • Recognizing humans as a hyperkeystone species offers new perspectives on our role in global ecology.