Keystone Species

Portugal Wildlife

Keystone Species

On our Nature Reserve we are practising Ecological Restoration and Rehabilitation rather than Rewilding.

One key element to this is by having a Keystone Species.

On our Nature Reserve the Keystone Species is the Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) {Javali}.

The graphic below clearly shows the benefits that Wild Boars bring to a wildlife ecosystem. Basically Keystone Species are thise that have a larger than normal impact on their environment and other plants and animals.

When we started our project we only occasionally saw Wild Boars. But as our nature reserve has developed and increased in size we see them more often. While our reserve is not large enough to allow them to solely live

on our reserve they do visit a lot more often as they feel safe and secure here and have ready access to food, water and shelter.

Accordingly the activities of our Wild Boar help to improve the biodiveristy of the Montado woodland, meadows and aquatic habitats.

This excellent graphic is reproduced here with permission of Jeroen Helmer and Ark Rewilding Netherlands, a Rewilding project based in the Netherlands.

Another Keystone species, notably for aquatic environments, is the Eurasian Otter.