Biodiversity

Question 1

What is biodiversity?

Answer 1

The variety of life in an ecosystem

Question 2

What does ‘endemism’ mean?

Answer 2

When a species is restricted to a particular area

Question 3

What are the 3 components of biodiversity?

Answer 3

Allele diversity, species diversity and ecosystem diversity

Question 4

How do we measure species diversity?

Answer 4

Species richness and species evenness

Question 5

What is species richness?

Answer 5

The number of species in a particular area

Question 6

What is species evenness

Answer 6

How evenly the individuals are distributed between species

Question 7

What calculation measures both species richness and species evenness?

Answer 7

Simpson Diversity Index

Question 8

Give the definitions for Simpson Diversity Index

Answer 8

DI = N(N-1) / Σn(n-1)

N = total number of individuals collected 
n = number of individuals of a species

Question 9

What calculation is used for genetic (allele) diversity?

Answer 9

Heterozygosity Index

Question 10

What’s the formula for heterozygosity index?

Answer 10

H = number of heterozygotes / number of individuals in that population

Question 11

What is a species?

Answer 11

A species is a group of organisms with a similar morphology (structure, physiology (function of organs etc.) and behaviour, which can be interbred to produce fertile offspring that are reproductively isolated from other species

Question 12

What is an niche?

Answer 12

The role an organism plays in a community

Question 13

What does being ‘adapted’ mean?

Answer 13

Being specialised to suit the environment in which an organism lives

Question 14

Name and explain the three types of adaptation

Answer 14

Behavioural = how an organism responds to its environment eg. Migration

Physiological = functions of the internal body that help the organism survive eg. Proteins for spider milk

Anatomical = physical, observable structures eg. Camouflage

Question 15

Define evolution

Answer 15

A gradual change in allele frequency over time

Question 16

What is a gene pool?

Answer 16

A set of all the alleles in a population

Question 17

What 5 things can change allele frequency in a population?

Answer 17

1) Natural Selection
2) Gene flow (new alleles enter/ leave gene pool)
3) Non-random mating
4) Genetic drift (random change)
5) Mutation

Question 18

What calculation is used to see whether a change in allele frequency in a population is happening over time?

Answer 18

Hardy-Weinberg equation

Question 19

What are the two Hardy-Weinberg equations?

Answer 19

Alleles: p+q=1

Genotype: p ² + 2pq + q ² = 1

Question 20

What is classification?

Answer 20

A way of organising variety of life based on relationships between organisms using differences in phenotype and genotype

Question 21

Name the 3 domains of life

Answer 21

Archaea, bacteria and eukaryotes

Question 22

What is molecular phylogeny?

Answer 22

Observing molecular similarities/differences in DNA using base sequences to identify relationships between organisms

Question 23

Question example: suggest how natural selection and led to evolution

Answer 23

• Variation in species
• Selective advantage
• Differential survival
• Breeding
• Pass advantageous alleles to offspring
• Increase in advantageous allele in gene pool