Citation
Food web complexity and species diversity
TL;DR
Removal of Pisaster starfish led to ecosystem collapse from 15 species to near-monoculture
This foundational paper describes the Pisaster starfish removal experiment that established the keystone species concept. Paine demonstrated that removing a single predator species caused collapse of species diversity from 15 to 8 species in rocky intertidal zones.
The paper established that some species have influence vastly disproportionate to their abundance - their presence structures the entire ecosystem, and their removal triggers cascading collapse. This insight translates directly to organizations where certain technologies, people, or customers have similar structural importance.
Key Findings from Paine (1966)
- Removal of Pisaster starfish led to ecosystem collapse from 15 species to near-monoculture
- Predator maintained diversity by preventing competitive dominants from monopolizing resources
- Species impact can be disproportionate to biomass/abundance
- Selective predation on competitive dominants maintains ecosystem diversity