Ishani Paul

Professor Angela Pedrotti

English 1201

26 June 2019

Annotated Bibliography

Hale, Sarah L., Koprowski, John L. “Ecosystem-Level Effects of Keystone Species

Reintroduction: A Literature Review”. Restoration Ecology, pp. 1-7.

cals.arizona.edu/research/redsquirrel/res_pdf/HaleKoprowski2018RestEcolKeystoneSpp

Reintroductions.pdf

The article “Ecosystem-level Effects of Keystone Species Reintroduction: A Literature

Review” by Sarah L Hale and John L Koprowski appeared in the journal Restoration Ecology,

and the main point of the article is the role of keystone species in the environment as well as the

importance of keystone species reintroduction and research supporting it.

The paper begins by describing the concept of a keystone species as species that help

keep the organization of their ecosystem constant and they have a disproportionately large

impact on their environment. This concept was initially introduced to explain the effect of purple

sea stars and sea snails on their community. The article then goes on to provide more examples

of keystone species in the environment such as wolves and sea otters. The article then moves on

to discuss how these keystone species were eliminated from their environments due to factors

such as hunting, habitat loss, and some natural processes (ex. disease). The paper then moves on

to discuss how the removal of these species from their environments can have many effects,

which lead to a need to restore these species.

 The goal of the authors in writing this article was to review the success of keystone

species reintroduction as well as to identify how much is known about the environmental effects

of reintroducing keystone species. The main audience for this piece seems to be a more scientific

community, as the wording used in the article is more elevated and aims to provide in depth

information on this topic. Since the article was written for a journal which focuses on ecological

restoration, what was written may be biased to support the idea that keystone species restoration

benefits restoration. This may be shown in ways such as describing primarily the benefits of

restoration and no disadvantages.

The authors of this paper are Dr. Sarah L. Hale and Dr. John L. Koprowski, both of

whom are professors at the School of Natural Resources and the Environment at the University

of Arizona. This builds their credibility on the topic, as they work with an environmental

department of a reputed university, which implies that they are well informed about what they

have written. In addition, the paper also used multiple outside sources, all of which were also

credible, to support the information shared. This paper has been used as a resource by 5 other

academic papers, which indicates that the information is credible as well.

I plan to use this information in my research paper to introduce the concept of keystone

species restoration as part of a solution to the issue of animal extinctions. I will also use the

article to provide examples of how the loss of certain species could lead to losses in more species

as well.

“Keystone Species.” Edited by Jeannie Evers, National Geographic , 9 Oct. 2012,

www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/keystone-species/.
 The article “Keystone Species” edited by Jeannie Evers, appeared on the National

Geographic website. The main purpose of this article was to introduce the concept of a keystone

species, and what role they play in the environment.

The article begins with defining keystone species as a species which defines it whole

ecosystem, and without which the ecosystem would fail to exist. It explains that if the species

were to disappear, its role could not be replaced by another species which would cause large

changes in the ecosystem. It explains that keystone species could be anything including plants

and fungi, but are often predators, which control populations of prey species. It then provides

examples of predator keystone species such as the grey wolf and purple sea stars. The article

then discusses herbivore keystone species, who consume plants and hep control physical and

biological parts of an ecosystem. It then goes on to describe various other important species in an

ecosystem, such as ecosystem engineers, indicator species, and flagstone species.

The purpose of writing this article was simply to inform readers about the concept of

keystone species, so they are knowledgeable on this topic. The article was written to be read by

the general population, and the phrasing used is well suited for the audience. None of the words

are difficult to comprehend, even for an individual who knows nothing on this topic. While this

article was written in 2017, and is not the most recent paper, it is not much of a news story which

must be updated and is more of a defining article. Therefore, the information provided is still

relevant and applicable.

While there are no specific authors listed for this article, it has been published by

National Geographic, which is a very reputable website. It is listed as an encyclopedic entry,

which adds credibility to the information provided. Due to these factors, as well as the fact that
the information shared in this article can be verified through many other sources, it can be

concluded that the paper is accurate and credible.

I plan to use this information in my research paper to introduce readers to what a

keystone species is. I will use this information to define a keystone species and inform readers

about how different species can affect the environment.

Leary, Warren E. “Removing Rats Alters Environment.” The New York Times, 25 Dec. 1990,

https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/25/science/removing-rats-alters-

environment.html?searchResultPosition=3

The article “Removing Rats Alters Environment” by Warren E. Leary appeared in the New York

Times newspaper, and its main purpose was to describe a study where kangaroo rats were

removed from their environment and the effects were monitored.

The article begins by describing a study where three species of desert rats were removed

from their environments, which resulted in large changes to the ecosystems around them,

proving these species to be keystone species. It then continues to use quotes from researchers to

reveal that when keystone species are lost, it leads to quick and unexpected changes, and then

continues to talk about how it is important to know more about these kinds of species. The article

then discusses the concept of keystone species, which had been discovered only 25 years prior to

the article. It then provided more specifics of experiments conducted using kangaroo rats in the

Chihuahuan Desert, where some areas had rats and some didn’t and the results were compared to

reveal big differences in the species present. In enclosures without rats, seed eating birds

decreased as vegetation grew more.

 The goal of the author in writing this article was to inform readers about this study that

had occurred, and to show how the removal of a keystone species from and ecosystem can alter

the environment. The intended audience for this article was the general population, which is

reflected in the terminology used in the piece.The article was written in late 1990, which makes

it a fairly old article, however, it is just a summary of a study and its results, and it reveals the

connection between the loss of keystone species and changes in the environment. Since these

results have been replicated in many studies, despite the age of the article, it is still relevant.

The author, Warren E. Leary, had been writing for The New York Times up until 2008,

and had written many articles in that time. While he does not have any specific credibility on this

specific topic, his experience as a reporter speaks to his credibility in delivering the news. In

addition, he uses quotes from interviews with professionals to support the claims in his article,

further building his credibility.

I plan to use this information in my research paper as an example of an early study

showing the relevance of keystone species. At the time that this paper was written, the concept of

keystone species still wasn’t as developed and this study helped scientist better understand the

concept, making it a good early study to mention.

McKenzie, David. “Vanishing: The extinction crisis is worse than you think.” Youtube, uploaded

by CNN, 24 Jan. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUA2VgLrgn0.

The documentary “Vanishing: The Extinction Crisis Is Worse Than You Think” was

made by David McKenzie and appeared on CNN, and its main point was to bring light to the

extinction crisis and how bad it has gotten, as well as to provide some possible ways to help.
 The documentary begins by stating that there is a mass extinction currently occurring,

and revealing that species are going extinct at 100 times the normal rate. It reveals that elephants,

coral reefs, pollinators, and many other species could disappear in the next few centuries. The

documentary then shows examples of elephants being killed by poaching, as an example of a

factor that causes extinctions. The documentary continues to discuss the elephant census, and

how it has seen changes in the population of elephants due not only to poaching, but also habitat

loss, human-elephant contact, and climate change. It then moves on to discuss damage to coral

reefs, caused by extreme temperatures. It discusses how this affects a nearby coastal community,

as when the reefs are damaged it is harder to find food and the people cannot eat. The

documentary then shifts to discuss an albatross population, that lives on an island seemingly

untouched by humans, but on the island, trash washes up on the beach due to the extent of

pollution by humans. The birds end up eating the plastic that turns up, and end up feeding it to

the babies, which eventually die. The documentary then moves on to discuss the bees, whose

populations are rapidly declining. The documentary states this is due to factors such as

pesticides, farms, and climate change. Finally, the documentary discusses decreases in frog

populations due to habitat loss, climate change, and spread of a fungus (chytrid) by humans.

The purpose of this documentary was to bring light to the extent of the extinction crisis,

and how it was affecting various different species. The audience for this documentary is the

general public, and the wording used reflects this, and is very understandable. This documentary

was also made fairly recently, so the information is still quite accurate.

David McKenzie, who made this documentary, has no specific credibility on the topic

itself. CNN News also has no special credibility in this matter. However, the documentary uses
interviews from many professionals, who provide much of the information shared in the

documentary. Due to the use of these sources, the documentary gains credibility.

I plan to use this article to discuss the extinction crisis, and to reveal how far this crisis

has gotten,. I will use it to show how many species have already disappeared, and then move on

to discuss how we can try to stop this crisis.

Oliver, Tom H., et al. “Declining Resilience of Ecosystem Functions under Biodiversity Loss.”

Nature Communications, vol. 6, no. 1, 8 Dec. 2015, pp. 1–8., doi:10.1038/ncomms10122.

The academic paper “Declining Resilience of Ecosystem Functions under Biodiversity

Loss” by Tom H. Oliver (and other contributing authors) was published in the journal Nature

Communications, and the main purpose of the paper was to identify how a decrease in the

biodiversity of an ecosystem can lead to a lower resilience of said ecosystem and its functions.

The paper begins by discussing the ways biological species are important in an ecosystem

such as producing food, regulating climate, and cultural values in the ecosystem. It then went on

to say that ecosystems with more biodiversity were found to have higher levels of ecosystem

functioning. The paper states that while there is a decrease in biodiversity at the global level,

they way this decrease affects the resilience of ecosystem functions is not well known. It

discusses how in theory, long term trends in species occurrence can be linked to changes in

resilience of ecosystem functions, but in reality, the progress in collecting this information has

been obstructed due to various causes including a lack of data. The paper continues to describe

the methodology in collecting information for the study. The paper stated that in situations where

there was a net decrease in species, and no reduction in functions, it may have been due to the

species having a lesser impact in the ecosystem. It concludes by stating that since restoration
efforts can take years to be effective, it is important to identify which functions are most at risk

to begin these efforts first.

The purpose in writing this paper was to describe a study that investigated the impact of

decreasing biodiversity on the strength and resilience of ecosystem functions that humans rely

on. The study itself was performed to develop an understanding of which functions are most at

risk, so conservation efforts can be prioritized. The intended audience for this article was a more

scientific community, and as a result the terminology used in the paper is somewhat elevated for

the general population. The article was written in 2015, which is still fairly recent for a scientific

study, and therefore the information is still relevant. It was written for Nature Communications

journals, which focuses on publishing scientific research papers, so the facts are unlikely to be

biased, the only inaccuracy that may occur is that results/conclusions are exaggerated to get the

paper in the journal

The primary author of this paper was Tom H. Oliver, and he has written two papers

relating biodiversity and changes in the environment. This implies that he has significant

knowledge on this topic, enough to write two academic papers. He is associated with the NERC

Centre for Ecology and Hydrology which further adds to his credibility, by implying that he is

knowledgeable on the topic of ecology. In addition, Nature Communications is a reputable

journal, with many reputable papers being published in it. This further builds the credibility of

the paper. The paper also has cited many outside sources, implying the accuracy of the

information.

I plan to use this information in my research paper to identify how animal extinctions

impact the environment. I want to use this information to show that these extinctions are
dangerous to the environment around us, to reveal one of the negative effects of these ongoing

extinctions.

Soulé, Michael. Interview by Project Coyote. Project Coyote, 25 Nov. 2015,

www.projectcoyote.org/mediaroom/videos/the-value-of-keystone-species/

This interview by Michael Soulé was done by Project Coyote, and appeared on the

Project Coyote website. The main purpose of this interview was to discuss the role of keystone

species in the environment.

The interview begins by discussing what a keystone species is, as a creature that when

removed from its habitat can lead to the extinction of many other species in the community.

When they are removed, it leads to the downfall of the ecosystem. He then uses Prairie dogs as

an example of a keystone species, and describes how they maintain their ecosystem, by eating

grass around burrows to allow other creatures to survive.

The purpose in giving this interview was to inform the public of the roles of keystone

species in the environment, so they are informed of this important part of the ecosystem. The

intended audience is the general public, and the wording in the video is very understandable. The

interview was given for Project Coyote, which opposes the killing of these keystone species (ex.

Coyotes and wolves) for their fur or for safety. Therefore, it is possible that the role of keystone

species which was conveyed by Soulé may have been inflated. However, the information

matches that of other sources so it is likely credible.

Dr. Michael Soulé, who was interviewed for this video, is a professor at the University of

California as well as the cofounder of the Society for Conservation Biology. He has a lot of

knowledge on this topic, and is therefore very credible to speak on it. Particularly since he
mainly describes what a keystone species is, and his information matches that of many other

sources, it is safe to say that the information provided is credible and accurate.

I plan to use this interview to introduce the idea of keystone species, by using the general

ideas and themes in this interview.

National Park Service. “Wolf Restoration.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the

Interior, 6 Apr. 2019, www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/wolf-restoration.htm.

The article “Wolf Restoration” has no specific named authors, however, it was published

on the National Parks Service website, and the main point of the article was to reveal how the

reintroduction of wolves at Yellowstone affected other species at the park.

The article begins by discussing the cause of the reduction in the Yellowstone grey wolf

population, due to human hunting and predator control. It then goes on to discuss the realization

of this mistake and actions taken to reverse it. The article discussed the introduction of

experimental populations of grey wolves into the park to test the effects. These wolves were not

expected to greatly decrease populations of deer, sheep, or bison, and could possibly lead to the

increase in the red fox population.The article then discusses specifics of the reintroduction plan,

such as the number of wolves released in each area at each date. The article then discusses the

results, which reveal that the recovery will probably lead to more biodiversity at the park.

The purpose of this article was to explain the reasoning, methods, and effects of the wolf

restoration project which was occurring at Yellowstone National Park. The audience for the

piece was the general public, and the wording used would be understood fairly well by the

general population. The article was published on the National Parks Service website, which may
cause some bias in the reporting of the results, as the parks service may be inclined to show

mainly the successes of this program to maintain its image.

While there is no listed writer for this article, it was published by the National Parks

Service, which is a government entity, and therefore has credibility on this matter. The website,

being a government website, is very likely to have accurate information. However, there are no

outside sources used in the article, which may somewhat decrease credibility as well.

I intend to use this article as my primary example of how keystone species restoration can

benefit the environment. I will use it in my conclusion paragraphs while discussing possible

solutions to the animal extinction crisis