The deep sea relies on keystone species to maintain balance. Through predation, competition and symbiosis, changes in the population of one species affects the population of another. But at the heart of these diverse and vibrant deep sea communities are the keystone species, whose presence keeps the balance in the ecosystem by determining the numbers of other species. Without keystone species, ecosystems would look very different, and if they disappeared, the oceans would be more vulnerable to environmental change and would experience a rapid decline in biodiversity. The three different kinds of keystone species, the predators, ecosystem engineers, and mutualists, have very different roles to play in order to maintain their ecosystems. Let’s take a closer look at these, and examine the keystones of the deep sea.

00:00 - An Introduction to Deep Sea Keystone Species
01:47 - Chapter 1: Keystone Predators - The Trophic Cascade
03:31 - Chapter 1: Keystone Predators - The Role of Predators
04:54 - Chapter 2: Ecosystem Engineers - Autogenic vs Allogenic
06:16 - Chapter 2: Ecosystem Engineers - Corals as Keystones
07:19 - Chapter 2: Ecosystem Engineers - Benthic Burrowers
08:59 - Chapter 2: Ecosystem Engineers - Whale-Pumps and Whale-Falls
12:16 - Chapter 3: Keystone Mutualists - The Importance of Mutualism
13:03 - Chapter 3: Keystone Mutualists - Mutualists at Cold Seeps
15:09 - Conclusion: The Importance of Keystone Species

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I do not own any of the footage. Footage used belongs to the incredible marine conservation societies of Schmidt OI, MBARI, WHOI and the Ocean Exploration Institute, along with various other YouTube sources.

Music Used:
Cold by Jorge Mendez
War Inside by Jorge Mendez
Oceans by Jorge Mendez
Best Case Scenario by Jorge Mendez
Perhaps by Jorge Mendez

As you can see, all of the beautiful music in this video was composed by Jorge Mendez! Follow him on YouTube for more gorgeous pieces like these.

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