Question

Name the term used to describe a single dominant species, that dictates community structure

• A. Pioneer species
• B. Transitional species
• C. Keystone species
• D. Indigenous species
• E. Exogenous species

Answer 1

The correct option is B Transitional species

Keystone species is a species, which has a significant and disproportionately large influence on the community structure and characteristics. It has often considerably low abundance and biomass as compared to dominant species. Removal or decrease in number of keystone species causes serious disruption in structure and function of community. In intertidal regions starfish feeds on mussels. Removal of starfish leads to dominance of mussel population, that excludes algae. In tropical rain forests figs function as keystone species as they provide fruit to a number of animals like birds, monkeys, bats etc. during the periods of food scarcity.