Ecologist Bob Paine will deliver the 12th installment of the annual Wiese lecture series this Wednesday evening 7pm at University of South Alabama's Mitchell Center. Mr. Paine will discuss his theory of the Keystone Species, which points up the importance of biological diversity and interdependencies of species within ecological systems.
By Ben Raines, Staff Reporter - Mobile Register - Sometimes, the loss of a single species in a natural system, such as a salt marsh or swamp, can change a diverse and thriving habitat into a biological graveyard, according to groundbreaking work by ecologist Bob Paine, who will deliver the 12th annual Wiese Lecture at the University of South Alabama on Wednesday evening.
Paine's most famous theory -- that a few "keystone species" have outsized effects on their environment and on the survival of other species -- is considered one of the most profound discoveries in the study of ecology and is central to understanding and preventing both habitat loss and the extinction of numerous species.
"The keystone predator hypothesis, that was his earliest and most earth-shattering conclusion. It really influences everything we do in marine ecology and has completely guided the way we think. His work changed everything," said Rich Aronson, an internationally acclaimed researcher with the Dauphin Island Sea Lab.
Paine's lecture, "Lessons at Low Tide: Biodiveristy on the Rocky Shore," will focus on the coastline of Washington state, where he made many of the observations that led to the "keystone species" concept.
The free lecture Wednesday is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the University of South Alabama's Mitchell Center.
While there are no natural rocky shorelines along the Gulf Coast, the study of inter-species relationships at the heart of Paine's work is applicable worldwide. Indeed, he has studied tidal communities as far afield as New Zealand and Chile.
Paine's original work on the keystone theory was published in the late 1960s. The coastline of Washington state is dotted with thousands of small tide pools and inlets, which lent themselves to Paine's simple but inventive experiment. In that experiment, he removed a predatory species of starfish from an area and watched how other creatures, such as mussels, crabs and shrimp, were affected.
The starfish Paine removed ate mussels and normally kept the shellfish population in check. Once the starfish were cleaned out of the experimental plot, the mussel population swelled out of control, with mussels covering all available surfaces, to the exclusion of other tide pool dwellers, such as anemones. The overall species diversity of the research plot decreased dramatically, according to the scientific literature.
The starfish, Paine theorized, was vital to maintaining diversity along the coast, primarily because it kept another species -- the mussel -- from taking over.
"Paine is a very lively guy. It should be a lot of fun. The pictures will be beautiful. It's meant to be open for the public, so everyone should be able to understand everything," Aronson said. "That's the whole purpose of the Wiese lecture series."
Paine is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the most prestigious appointments for scientists in the United States, and has won numerous awards for his research.