All species are important, but some species are more important than others

Foundation species control biodiversity and ecosystem processes, but are difficult to identify. In this issue of the Journal of Vegetation Science, Elumeeva etal. show that Festuca varia and Nardus stricta act as foundation species in the Caucasus' alpine. This paper augments the piecemeal literature on foundation species while highlighting the need for more comprehensive approaches to their identification and conservation.