4.2 biodiversity

Question 1

What is biodiversity?

Answer 1

The variety of living organisms in an area?

Question 2

What is a species?

Answer 2

A group of similar organisms able to reproduce and give fertile offspring.

Question 3

What is a habitat?

Answer 3

An area inhabited by a species. It includes physical factors (soil & temperature) and biotic factors (availability of food and predators)

Question 4

What is habitat diversity?

Answer 4

the number of different habitats in an area.

Question 5

What is species diversity?

Answer 5

The number of different species and the abundance of each species in an area.

Question 6

What is genetic diversity?

Answer 6

The variation of alleles within a species. Eg the variation of alleles within the dog species gives rise to different breeds.

Question 7

What is Simpson’s index of diversity?

Answer 7

A measure of diversity.

Question 8

Why is low genetic diversity bad?

Answer 8

They might not be able to adapt to changes so the whole population can be wiped out in a single event. Populations may include isolated populations such as those in captivity.

Question 9

What is genetic polymorphism?

Answer 9

Alleles of the same gene are found at the same point (a locus). Polymorphism describes a locus that has two or more alleles.

Question 10

How do you calculate the proportion of polymorphic gene loci?

Answer 10

Number of polymorphic gene loci / number of loci.

Question 11

How does human population growth affect global biodiversity?

Answer 11

Habitat loss, over exploitation as there’s a greater demand for resources, urbanisation can isolate species and pollution is killing species and habitats.

Question 12

How is increased use of monoculture affecting global biodiversity?

Answer 12

Habitats are lost as land is cleared to make way for large fields (habitat diversity). Local and naturally occurring plants are seen as pests so are destroyed (species diversity). Heritage varieties of crops are lost because they are not planted.

Question 13

How is climate change affecting global biodiversity?

Answer 13

Most species need a specific climate to survive, so a change in climate can mean a habitat can become uninhabitable. This causes a change in the range of some species. Some species may be made to migrate to more suitable areas causing a change in species distribution. Is there’s isn’t somewhere to migrate to the species becomes extinct.

Question 14

What would happen if we lost species?

Answer 14

Organisms in an ecosystem are interdependent, so a loss of a species can disrupt the food chain and the nutrient cycles.

Question 15

What is a keystone species?

Answer 15

a species on which other species largely depend on. They are often predators keeping the prey in check or modifiers (eg beavers) or hosts that provide a particular environment (eg palm trees)

Question 16

Why should we maintain genetic resources?

Answer 16

We need them for: food, mainly from plants and animals; clothing, a lot of fibres are made from plants and animals; drugs, many are made from plant compounds; fuels, we use many micro organisms to produce fuel; and other industrial materials such as wood, paper, adhesives etc.

Question 17

Why should we reduce soil depletion?

Answer 17

Continuous Monoculture causes soil depletion because the nutrients required by the crops are used up. The economic costs of soil depletion include increased spending on fertilisers and reduced yield.

Question 18

What is in situ conservation?

Answer 18

In situ means on site conservation which involves protecting species in their natural habitat.

Question 19

What are methods of in situ conservation?

Answer 19

Establishing protected areas such as national parks (restricts urban development and farming), preventing the introduction of species that threaten local biodiversity, protecting habitats (controlling water levels and trimming trees), promoting particular species and giving legal protection to endangered animals.

Question 20

What is an advantage to in situ conservation?

Answer 20

Both the species and the habitat are conserved. Larger populations can be protected and there’s less disruption than removing organisms from the habitat.

Question 21

What is a disadvantage to in situ conservation?

Answer 21

It is difficult to control some factors such as poaching, predators, disease or climate change.

Question 22

What is ex situ conservation?

Answer 22

It means off site conservation. It involves protecting a species by removing part of the population from a threatened habitat.

Question 23

What are some examples of methods of ex situ conservation?

Answer 23

Relocating organisms to a safer area, breeding organisms in captivity and reintroducing them into the wild, botanic gardens and seeds banks.

Question 24

What is an advantage of ex situ conservation?

Answer 24

You can control the environment. Things like predation and hunting can be managed.

Question 25

What is a disadvantage to ex situ conservation?

Answer 25

Only a small number of individuals can be cared for, and it is disruptive to take them out of their natural habitat. Also species may catch diseases from humans and become dependant.

Question 26

What is the Rio CBD?

Answer 26

Convention on biological diversity. It aims to develop international strategies on the conservation of biodiversity and how to use plant and animal resources in a sustainable way.

Question 27

What is CITES?

Answer 27

Convention on international trade in endangered species. An agreement designed to increase international cooperation in regulating trade in wild animals and plant specimens. The counties made it illegal to kill endangered species.

Question 28

What is the countryside stewardship scheme?

Answer 28

A scheme to conserve wildlife and biodiversity and improve and extend wildlife habitats by promoting management techniques to land owners.