Naturally, if we were to lose keystone plants, the benefits of food and shelter is not limited to plants and insects. Birds and animals would also be greatly affected by the loss of theses plants. Keystone species allow insects to produce healthy populations and allows birds—such as cardinals—to have a safe shelter as well as a nice meal (up to 30% of a cardinals’ diet is solely dependent on insects and caterpillars). Many voles, mice, weasels, minks, and squirrels use these plants for foods or nesting, and all of these animals, plus many others, are food sources for our predatory wildlife such as shrikes, hawks, owls, and coyotes; thus further impacting the food web as we go out.

Another worry if a keystone plant becomes extinct in an ecoregion, is that any insects which relied on that plant would be forced to move on in hopes of finding another suitable source to raise their young or simply die out. Awareness around losing pollinators is highly publicised. However, the importance of and the loss of native plants is not. Losing keystone plants results in less pollinators, less host plants for life cycles, and less food sources for local wildlife and other insects.

A common example is the Monarch Butterfly. A Monarch Butterfly will only lay their eggs on milkweed (Asclepias) as their larva (caterpillar) will only eat the leaves of milkweed. Comparatively, an adult Monarch will use a fair selection of plants for their food sources: bee balm (Monarda), goldenrod (Solidago), blue wood aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium), and the previously mentioned milkweed to name a few.