5.1-5.3 Flashcards
What is biodiversity?
The variety of life in an area that is determined by the number of different species in that area.
What is the purpose of biodiversity?
Biodiversity increases the stability of an ecosystem, maintains a healthy biosphere, and provides direct and indirect economical values to humans.
What is extinction?
Extinction occurs when the last member of a species dies.
What is Genetic diversity?
The variety of genes or inheritable characteristics that are present in a population.
What is the purpose of Genetic diversity?
Genetic diversity increases the chances that some species will survive during changing environmental conditions or during the outbreak of disease.
What is species diversity?
The number of different species and the relative abundance of each species in a biological community.
What is ecosystem diversity?
The variety of ecosystems that are present in the biosphere.
What are the direct economic values of biodiversity?
Humans depend on plants and animals for food, clothing, energy, and medicine.
Most of the world’s food crops come from just a few species.
Wild species serve as reservoirs of desirable genetic traits that might be needed to improve commercial crop species.
Scientists continue to find new extracts from plants and other organisms that help in the treatment of human diseases.
What are the indirect economic values of biodiversity?
Green plants provide oxygen and remove carbon dioxide.
Natural processes provide drinking water that is safe for human use.
What are the esthetic and scientific values of biodiversity?
There is value in maintaining healthy ecosystems that are beautiful or interesting to study.
What are the three types of biodiversity?
Genetic diversity, species diversity, and ecosystem diversity.
What are the direct and indirect values of biodiversity?
Humans depend on plants and animals for food, clothing, energy, and medicine.
Most of the world’s food crops come from just a few species.
Wild species serve as reservoirs of desirable genetic traits that might be needed to improve commercial crop species.
Scientists continue to find new extracts from plants and other organisms that help in the treatment of human diseases.
Green plants provide oxygen and remove carbon dioxide.
Natural processes provide drinking water that is safe for human use.
There is value in maintaining healthy ecosystems that are beautiful or interesting to study.
Biodiversity increases the stability of ecosystems and contributes to the health of the biosphere.
Why are some human activities harmful to the biosphere?
Some human activities reduce biodiversity in ecosystems, and current evidence suggests that reduced biodiversity might have serious long-term effects on the biosphere.
What is background extinction?
The gradual process of species becoming extinct.
What is mass extinction?
An event in which a large percentage of all living species become extinct in a relatively short period of time.
What is the current high rate of extinctions caused by?
Due to the activities of a single species–Homo sapiens.
What are scientists’ opinions on background extinctions and mass extinctions?
Scientists are not concerned about the natural process of extinction as much as the increasing rate of extinctions.
Why are humans causing most of the extinction?
Humans are changing conditions on Earth faster than new traits can evolve.
What are natural resources?
Materials and organisms found in the biosphere.
What are some examples of natural resources?
Minerals, fossil fuels, nuclear fuels, plants, animals, soil, clean water, clean air, and solar energy.
What is overexploitation?
It is the excessive use of species that have economic value.
What is the effect of overexploitation?
It can put species at risk of extinction.
What are some of the species that are affected by overexploitation?
Bison, Passenger pigeons, Ocelots, and Rhinoceros.
What is habitat loss?
It is the destruction of habitat, such as clearing tropical rainforests.
What is the relationship between habitat loss and the biosphere?
Habitat loss has a direct impact on global biodiversity.
What is habitat disruption?
When a natural habitat, such as a forest or wetland, is altered so dramatically that it no longer supports the species it originally sustained.
Example: overfishing