Keystone Species Profile: African Elephants

Common name: African elephant
Scientific name: Loxodonta africana

The world's largest terrestrial animal plays a vital role in maintaining grasslands in Africa and their survival is critical for many other species. This iconic mammal needs our help to keep its population from dwindling into extinction.

Role in ecosystem:

• They eat small trees adn break up thorny bushes which open up grasslands for other animals
• They dig waterholes in dry riverbeds that other animals can utilize as a water source
• Their dung is picked through by baboons and birds for undigested seeds and dung beetles reproduce in the droppings - their nutrient rich poo also refreshes depleted soils
• The trails they make serve as fire breakers and water run offs 

Threats to their survival:

• Habitat destruction
• Human encroachment on their land which is then converted to cropland, logged or used to maintain livestock
• Poaching - they are hunted and killed for their ivory or "white gold"

What you can do to help them:

• Learn about the species by going to your local zoo or browsing the internet...then tell your friends!
• Tell the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serve that you support the protection of wild elephants
• Adopt an animal through the WWF as a symbol for your donation
• Participate in ecotourism activities in Africa that fund the continuation of wildlife preserves and this vital species

Sources

SOS Elephants

World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

Cheetahs at the Woodland Park Zoo

Liz

We've got cheetahs at the WPZ in Seattle, Washington! The is the new temporary home of two 14 year old cheetahs, Liz and Missy. The zoo has taken in the cheetahs per the request of the Species Survival Plan (SSSP) which is a conservation breeding program among Association of Zoo and Aquarium accredited zoos for 6-18 months. As a volunteer at the zoo, the addition of these slinky cats is an amazing opportunity to see cheetahs in person and promote their conservation to our zoo guests.

Liz was born in South Africa in 1999 and Missy was born in the Netherlands in the same year. Missy has a verticle stripe above her eyes and can frequently be found napping, while Liz is lighter in color with line and dots above her eyes; she loves watching the singing birds which are abundant in Seattle during the summer. The girls came from Oregon's Wildlife Safari.

Miss

Cheetahs are adapted for speed with small lightweight heads, flexible spines, large chest and lungs, and blunt claws that perform like track spikes. And of course, their signature spots act as camouflage as the big cats lurk in the savanna grasses before they dart into attack mode at speeds of up to 65 miles per hour.

.If you're in the area, hurry into Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo to check out these beauties before they've found their permanent home.

Sources:

Woodland Park Zoo's website

WPZ's cheetah page

Keystone Species (?)

Since this blog will be mostly focusing on keystone predators let's get into exactly what that term means! Simply put, a keystone species is one whose effect on its ecosystem is disproportionally large relative to it's abundance. Without a keystone species the ecosystem would be vastly different or crumble completely.

Gray wolves taking down an elk

Keystone species are almost always predators, and these predators control the spread and population of large numbers of prey species. This is important because if a keystone predator were to disappear it would mean chaos - a great example is gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park. For the 70 years that wolves were absent from the ecosystem, elk flourished...and while the elk increased in numbers they ate a lot of vegetation. Eventually there were no new trees because the elk had eaten the baby sprouts and rivers were eroding since the elk ate from the banks as well. When wolves were reintroduced they began to control elk numbers again, and surprise! New trees began to grow and the landscape became much more lush and shaded. 

The effect of keystone predators is that they release a trophic cascade. Since predators impact prey, predators in turn impact their prey's prey - it's like our previous example where wolves indirectly impacted the landscape through their interactions with elk. 

Sea star eating an urchin, National Geographic

Now that we've got the basics, here are some keystone species:

• Sea stars, studied by Dr. Robert Paine who coined the term keystone species, who eat sea urchins, mussels and other shellfish that have no other natural predators - the control of these species allows tide pools to prosper 
• Mountain lions partially control number of deer, rabbits and bird species
• Sea otters who control sea urchin numbers preventing urchins from destroying kelp forest habitat
• Prairie dogs whose foraging maintains water in the soil and forces new grass to grow
• Wolves who control populations of elk, rabbits, coyotes
• Elephants who keep savannas from developing into forests because they graze on trees
• and many many more!

Sources: National Geographic, Knowledge Project, Keystone Species by Kent Holsinger

Who's that chick, who's that chick

So you stumbled across this blog...and you're wondering 'what on earth does Preystone mean?? Perhaps if you're a budding naturalist such as myself then you've heard of a keystone species...but if not I've probably lost you twice now! Don't worry friend, it's really quite simple, 'preystone' is just keystone + predator and that's exactly what you'll find here on this blog: information about keystone predators that'll teach your something, make you smile and hopefully inspire you to act in ways to conserve these critical species.

Myself and Kusa my sister's Klee Kai

 If you're not too clear on what a keystone species if already, don't worry we'll get to that in the next post. But first, I wanted to let you know who I am...after all if you're reading this you might want to be assured I'm credible and yada yada....well, I'm not...not exactly...

First of all my name's Tess, and I'm a 21 year old biology major (focusing on ecology, evolution and conservation) at the Unversity of Washington in sunny *er damp* Seattle, Washington.  I'm also a volunteer at the Woodland Park Zoo, where I get to hang out with the jaguars every week. But before we go into full on resume mode let's take a trip back in time...

My dad and I at Volcanoes National Park, HI

Ever since the day my big sister looked down on 5 year-old Tess holding a kitten in her arms and said, "You'll never love animals as much as me," I made it my MISSION to prove her wrong! Since then I've parlayed this challenge into something a little more concrete, post-college I'd like to become more involved with species conservation work and I'd like to do it with some big players - keystone predators in various ecosystems. 

So while I'm not yet an expert,  I would say that I'm a young woman with an insane passion for animals whose number one goal in this lifetime is to help save species, especially keystone predators that help maintain the delicate and complex ecosystems across our earth. Join me! :)