The term keystone species was first coined by Robert Paine (1966) after extensive studies examining the interaction strengths of food webs in rocky intertidal ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest.

A visit to this wave-pummeled outcrop was a rite of passage for lab associates of Bob Paine. Decades earlier, Paine, armed with a crowbar, had first pried purple Pisaster starfish—the ecosystem ...

"We're using wild lands ... and it's degrading the ecosystem." "Predator control" programs, which harm keystone predators, aim to protect profitable livestock, and therefore protect the meat and ...