Biodiversity Flashcards
What is the criteria for 2 organisms to be considered part of the same species
The are capable of breeding to produce living, fertile offspring
Explain the binomial system for naming organisms
1st is generic name GENUS 2nd is specific name SPECIES always written in italics or underlines
Why is courtship behaviour necessary for successful mating
So they can recognise members of their own species (for fertile offspring)- members have same genes so behaviour is similar, identify a mate capable of breeding, create a pair bond, synchronise mating and become able to breed
What is artificial classification and why is it analogous
Dividing organisms according to differences at the time (legs, colour, size) but analogous as characteristics have same function but not same evolutionary origin
Describe phylogenetic classification
It’s based on evolutionary relationships between organisms and ancestors, it classifies into groups using shared features from ancestors. The groups are arranged into a hierarchy where groups are contained within larger ones, with NO overlap
What is each group in a phylogenetic classification called
A taxon
What is the hierarchy that comprises the taxa
Domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species (Dear, King, Phillip, Came, Over, For, Good, Soup)
What is biodiversity and what is it made up of
It is the number and variety of organisms in a different area. can be species diversity( no species) , genetic diversity(variety of genes) or ecosystem diversity (range of habitats)
What is species richness
The number of different species in one area at one time
What does the index of diversity show
The relationship between the number of species in a community and the number of individuals in each species
How do farming techniques reduce biodiversity
Farmers select certain species that are more productive so the number of species and variety of alleles are reduced. The area is dominated by the crop so there’s little space for other species which compete for space and resources so numbers reduce. Pesticides are also used to exclude other species
Explain the balance between conservation and farming
We need food for expanding population but this diminishes variety of habitats (removal of hedgerows and water areas, creating mono cultures, using pesticides) so they should maintain diversity but this makes food more expensive to produce
How would you compare genetic diversity with comparison of observable characteristics and what are the limitations of this
Each characteristic is determined by genes and the variety depends on the variety of alleles but the limitation is that many characteristics are coded for by more than one gene and characteristics can be modified by the environment
How to identify genetic diversity from dna base sequences
We can read base sequences of dna, each base can be tagged with dye. We can measure diversity by sampling the dna and sequencing to produce pattern of bands and compare (patterns scanned by laser) we can also do this with mRNA
How to identity genetic diversity by comparison of amino acid sequences
Sequence of amino acids is determined by mrna and so dna. The degree of similarity in AA sequence reflects how closely related they are
