Leitart
A flagship species or leading form is an animal or plant type , which is particularly characteristic of a particular habitat type or a particular community. Due to their special requirements, they react particularly sensitively to changes in the landscape and are closely linked to certain habitat characteristics.
Terminology
The occurrence of the leading species can then abbreviate the entire community (or its completeness). In nature conservation, for example, the occurrence of certain key species can be used to infer the distribution or the perfection of biotopes / communities worthy of protection. The key species do not necessarily belong to the most common species.
In vegetation science, the related term character species is used more often. This is defined with a special meaning in plant sociology and replaces the more general term in this science.
Examples
The black woodpecker ( Dryocopus martius ), for example, is a key species for near-natural red beech forests, or the beaver is a key species of structurally rich, near-natural rivers. The classification system of rivers is based specifically on key fish species with its division into fish regions such as trout, grayling, barbel and bream region.
supporting documents
- Matthias Schaefer : Dictionary of Ecology . 4th edition, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, Berlin 2003, p. 186. ISBN 3-8274-0167-4
- Nentwig, Bacher, Beierkuhnlein, Brandl, Grabherr: Ecology . Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, Berlin 2004, p. 272, ISBN 3-8274-0172-0