Download Keystone Species Webquest

Name____________________
Keystone Species Webquest
DO NOW: Define a keystone species (also called keystone predator).
Instructions: Use the websites below to answer the questions- you will need this for your open note test
so do a good job!
To begin- go to the following website: http://www.bagheera.com/inthewild/spot_spkey.htm
1. How is a keystone species similar to a stone at the top of an arch?
2. What happens to the ecosystem if a keystone species dies off?
3. True/False: Keystone species are NOT top carnivores.
4. Explain how a sea otter is a keystone species.
5. True/False: Keystone species can be a plant or herbivore.
6. Why do conservationists try to protect keystone species?
Now click on the case study link at the end of the webpage that says “elephants”.
7. Explain two ways elephants are considered keystone species in the environment.
Using the information below, please follow the instructions and answer the questions:
Tiger sharks are keystone predators in some of the ecosystems where they live including the Shark Bay in
western Australia. To see the importance of this organism please draw the following in the space
provided:
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Draw one box at the top of the page (the box should be no more than about two inches
square—you might want to show them an example).
Draw three boxes across the middle of the page.
Draw two boxes across the bottom of the page.
Now that you have the boxes drawn, fill in the boxes with the appropriate organism’s name. Use the
information below and the bolded organisms to complete the boxes:
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Tiger sharks eat almost anything, alive or dead.
Bottlenose dolphins will abandon the rich waters where they like to feed if there are too
many tiger sharks around.
Dugongs and green sea turtles are some of the tiger shark's favorite foods.
Dolphins eat fish.
Dugongs and green sea turtles eat sea grass.
Draw arrows showing all feeding relationships (i.e. food chains) for this ecosystem.
Using the information for the food chains you just constructed, answer the following questions:
8. What would happen to dugongs and sea turtles if the tiger sharks were to go extinct?
9. Using the answer you wrote above- what would happen to the sea grass?
Ecologists are now trying to figure out if other sharks, like the bull shark or hammerhead shark, are
keystone species. Your task is to determine whether or not hammerhead sharks are keystone species.
Go to the following website and scroll down to the “Feeding” section to answer the questions.
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/GreatHammerhead/GHammerhead.html
10. List the hammerheads food main food sources.
11. What would happen to the ecosystem if the hammerhead sharks became extinct?
12. Besides eating habits- what other parts of the ecosystems could be impacted by the decline of a
keystone species.
Last Task- using any website of your choice- complete the table below.
Keystone Species
Starfish
Sea Otter
Wolf
Prairie Dog
Why is it
considered a
keystone species?
What eats it?
What does it eat?
If gone, what
would happen?