Question: Are there any species that are vital to our world that are endangered?

Alex Seeney answered on 22 Jun 2018:

You could really make an argument for many species in terms of their importance to our planet. All species have what is called a “niche” – their role in the environment. The type of species you’re talking about is called a “keystone” species – these tend to affect entire ecosystems, which means that adding them to or removing them from an ecosystem can have pretty big consequences.

Some examples of really important species are:

– Bees – bees are really important for pollinating many different species of plant which we rely on for food sources (and they’re also struggling in the wild, which is definitely something we should be worried about).

– Ivory tree coral – a very important coral species off the coast of Florida – this is really important for loads of fish species, which would lose entire habitats if it vanished.

– Tiger sharks – an example of an “apex predator” (a predator at the top of the food chain). They tend to feed on sick/weak individuals quite often, which improves the overall health of a population and reduces the spread of disease.