Concepts of keystone species and species importance in ecology

Abstract

This paper discussed the keystone species concept and introduced the typical characteristics of keystone species and their identification in communities or ecosystems. Based on the research of the keystone species, the concept of species importance (SI) was first advanced in this paper. The species importance can be simply understood as the important value of species in the ecosystem, which consists of three indexes: species structural important value (SIV), functional important value (FIV) and dynamical important value (DIV). With the indexes, the evaluation was also made on species importance of arbor trees in the Three-Hardwood forests (Fraxinus mandshurica, Juglans mandshurica, andPhellodendron amurense) ecosystem.

Keywords

Species importance / Keystone species / Structural important value / Functional important value / Dynamical important value / S718.5 / A