American Alligator
Species whose effects on the composition of communities are greater than one might expect based on their abundance are called keystone species. American Alligator is a major keystone species in the everglades. It is the biggest predator in the wetland ecosystem so it helps to level out the population sizes of all of the prey that it consumes. This organism also captures food for other organisms that are not as far up on the food chain. Without the American Alligator many things in the ecosystem would change and become disturbed. So humans poaching them and harming them in other ways is a major problem that must be fixed. Keystone species are called this because they are essential to the ecosystem and american alligators are definitely vital to the Everglades in a lot of ways.