Biodiversity

Question 1

Define species

Answer 1

A group of organisms that can interbreed to produce fertile offspring

Question 2

What are the advantages of courtship behaviour?

Answer 2

Individuals can recognise sexually mature members of their own species of the opposite sex, synchronise mating, form a pair bond and successfully breed

Question 3

Define classification

Answer 3

The process of arranging organisms into groups

Question 4

Name the eight groups in the classification heirarchy from largest to smallest

Answer 4

Domain - kingdom - phylum - class - order - family - genus - species

Question 5

What system is used to give species a universal name?

Answer 5

Binomial naming system

Question 6

What are two components to a binomial name?

Answer 6

Generic name = the genus the organism belong to. Two closely related species will share the same genus

Specific name = the species the organism belongs to

Question 7

How are binomial names handwritten?

Answer 7

The first letter of the generic name should be capitalised with the rest in lower case. The whole name should be underlined

Question 8

What is phylogenetic classification?

Answer 8

The process of arranging organisms into groups based on their evolutionary origins and relationships

Question 9

How can we clarify evolutionary relationships between organisms?

Answer 9

Analyse their molecular differences.

Advances in immunology/genome sequencing provide clear pictures of how related two organisms are

Question 10

Explain hierarchical classification

Answer 10

Groups within groups

No overlap between groups

Question 11

What is biodiversity?

Answer 11

The variety of living organisms. It can be measured in terms of species diversity, ecosystem diversity and genetic diversity

Question 12

Define community

Answer 12

All the different species that live in one area and interact with each other

Question 13

How do you calculate index of diversity?

Answer 13

N = total number of organisms of all species

n = total number of organisms of each species

Question 14

What impact does agriculture have on species diversity?

Answer 14

Decreases species richness

Farmland is typically used for only 1 species

Use of pesticides/ herbicides

Question 15

What impact does agriculture have on genetic diversity?

Answer 15

Decreases

Farmers select for certain characteristics, which reduces number of different alleles in the population

Question 16

How can biodiversity be increased in areas of agriculture?

Answer 16

1. Use of hedgerows instead of fences
2. Grow different crops in the same area or rotate crops around after a season
3. Limit use of pesticides and herbicides

Question 17

Name four ways we can measure genetic diversity

Answer 17

1. Frequency of observable characteristics
2. Base sequence of DNA
3. Base sequence of mRNA
4. Amino acid sequence

Question 18

What is meant by gene technology?

Answer 18

Sampling DNA or mRNA in order to read and compare the base sequence of organisms. Alternatively the amino acid sequence can be studied as this will also provide information on the organisms mRNA and DNA sequences

Question 19

Why do scientists prefer to use gene technology instead of observation?

Answer 19

Simply inferring DNA differences by observing and organisms characteristics is not reliable; the characteristics could be coded for by more than one gene, or could be influenced by the environment

Question 20

What is meant by interspecific and intraspecific variation?

Answer 20

Interspecific = differences between individuals or different species

Intraspecific = differences between individuals of the same species

Question 21

What is sampling?

Answer 21

Selecting a group of individuals to measure that will represent the whole target population

Question 22

How can a random sample be achieved?

Answer 22

Create a grid for the sample area and randomly generate coordinates where the quadrat can be placed. Repeat until required sample size is reached