Develop merits of the Studies on the Theory of Keystone Species in Ecosystems

The concept of“keystone species”, put forward by Robert T Paine in 1969, has rapidly become a popular field of international researches on ecology. On the level of systematical control, keystone species theory reveals a sort of mechanism of sustaining stability and species diversity in ecosystems, and has guiding significance for conservation biology. However there are still some limits in the identification criteria, generality, and methodology of keystone species. Much more observation and experiments are required to enrich, testify and improve the keystone species theory.