Biodiversity

Question 1

Genetic Biodiversity

Answer 1

Variety of alleles/genes in a population, relates to a population’s ability to adapt, high genetic diversity is tied to species resilience

Question 2

Species Biodiversity

Answer 2

Variety of life in a given area, the most noticeable, measurable

Question 3

Ecosystem Biodiversity

Answer 3

Variety of habitats, communities, and ecological processes within a given area

Question 4

Influences on Species Biodiversity

Answer 4

Type of habitat, location of habitat, disturbance

Question 5

Dynamic Equilibrium Model

Answer 5

Disturbance can increase species diversity by removing a dominant species of competition, or it can lower diversity through harming life

Question 6

Species Evenness

Answer 6

How evenly species are distributed across their ecosystems // higher species evenness results from species having similar relative abundances

Question 7

Species Richness

Answer 7

Total number of species in a community (S)

Question 8

Pleustic

Answer 8

Air/water interface, e.g. man-of-war that lives on the surface

Question 9

Pelagic

Answer 9

Water column, e.g. whales, squids

Question 10

Benthic

Answer 10

Bottom surface of waters, e.g. clams and oysters (zoobenthos) and e.g. sea grass (phytobenthos)

Question 11

Vertical Location Classifications

Answer 11

Categorize species based on location in water column, can change over lifetime, is not exclusive

Question 12

Nekton

Answer 12

Swimming

Question 13

Plankton

Answer 13

Drifting

Question 14

Motility Classifications

Answer 14

Whether swimming (nekton) or depending on currents (plankton)

Question 15

Micro to Meso to Macro to Mega Plankton

Answer 15

less than 0.2 cm, between 0.2 and 2 cm, between 2 and 20 cm, over 20 cm (e.g. man-of-war is megaplankton)

Question 16

Phyto and Zoo Plankton

Answer 16

autotrophs and heterotrophs

Question 17

Holo and Mero Plankton

Answer 17

holo, entire lives as plankton; mero, part of lives as plankton (usually in larvae stage)

Question 18

Single-Celled Organisms

Answer 18

Autotrophs and Decomposers, play very important roles in ecosystems // Include all three domains, bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes (plant, fungi, protists) // Can survive extremes // Very diverse group

Question 19

Bacteria

Answer 19

Prokaryotes, ubiquitous and very numerous // Autotrophic, primary producers, most notably cyanobacteria like blue-green algae and also chemolithotrophic bacteria (that use chemicals from hydrothermal vents) // Heterotrophic bacteria like decomposers

Question 20

Archaea

Answer 20

“Tiny and tough” // Often live at the extremes, extremeophiles, tend to be acidic- alkanitic- and salinity- tolerant // Prokaryotes // Found in almost every habitat

Question 21

Protists

Answer 21

Eukaryotes // Classified similar to the “higher kingdoms,” animal-like or plant-like // Salt and fresh water, plankton (zoo- ciliates, amoeba, foraminiferans) (phyto- euglena) // Autotrophic or heterotrophic // Diatoms

Question 22

Aquatic Fungi

Answer 22

Heterotrophic eukaryotes that are unicellular or filament-like, decomposers (especially of plant matter), less common than in terrestrial habitats

Question 23

Diatoms

Answer 23

Protists (eukaryotes) that produce 20% of atmospheric oxygen, most common form of algae and phytoplankton, around 20% of atmospheric oxygen, have silica shells, and are unicellular but form colonies

Question 24

Aquatic Plants

Answer 24

Micro- and Macro- phytes // Can be emerged (mangrove trees), submerged (kelp, moss, sea grass), or floating (water lilies) // Provide cover and food for animals, and are primary producers // Can be mosses (non-vascular that reproduce by spores), angiosperms (flowering plants, often only emerged or floating; yet sea grass is a true submerged angiosperm), or algae (seaweeds like kelp, and algae you can only see in mass colonies)

Question 25

Aquatic Animals

Answer 25

Multicellular, eukaryotic, all move by means of muscles, high degree of cell-specialization, heterotrophic, between 35-40 phyla, tons of diversity with nekton, zooplankton, and zoobenthos // Often defined by vertebrate or invertebrate

Question 26

Invertebrates

Answer 26

Most are obligate aquatic animals (like crabs), or semi-aquatic (like mosquitos for part of their life cycle), variety of locomotion (walk, swim, float, sessile [e.g. sea anemone]), include sponges, cnidarians, mollusks, arthropods (insects and crustaceans), echinoderms, and tunicates

Question 27

Sponges

Answer 27

Porifera, benthic, freshwater and marine, nektonic larvae, sessile adults // one of the first to branch off on the cladograms from the beginning of life, no true organs or tissue

Question 28

Cnidarians

Answer 28

Radially symmetrical, have cells that sting (cnidocytes), freshwater and marine // includes anemones (benthic, sessile as adults), jellyfish (found throughout water column, pelagic or pleustic), corals (benthic, sessile as adults), sinophores

Question 29

Mollusks

Answer 29

Have a head-foot complex (bilaterally symmetrical) and a mantle (soft part of body to protect) that usually secretes a calcium carbonate shell // second largest phylum of invertebrates both living and in fossil record, largest marine phylum in diversity

Question 30

Arthropods

Answer 30

Segmented bodies with jointed appendages, usually compound eyes, external cuticle of chitin, exoskeleton // all engage in sexual reproduction, all undergo metamorphosis and molting // freshwater and marine, the largest phylum of invertebrates, semi-aquatic or fully aquatic

Question 31

Echinoderms

Answer 31

Bilateral or radial symmetry, benthic as adults, only marine, have an endoskeleton, can reproduce asexually or sexually, can regrow limbs/extremities

Question 32

Tunicates

Answer 32

Benthic as adults, marine only, sexual reproduction and through budding, doral nerve cord as larvae

Question 33

Vertebrates

Answer 33

May be obligate aquatic animals or semi-aquatic, variety of locomotion (walk, swim, float, fly), in rivers lakes, and oceans, can be mammals, amphibians, birds, reptiles, or fish

Question 34

Fish

Answer 34

Skeletal, and gill-bearing, over 34,000 species known, most diverse aquatic vertebrate taxon, can be jawless, cartilaginous, or fin // cartilaginous fish (sharks, skates, and rays) and bony fish (which use a rigid skeleton for muscular attachment and contraction)

Question 35

Jawless

Answer 35

Lack paired fins, no jaw, e.g. lampreys

Question 36

Cartilaginous

Answer 36

Sharks, scapes, and rays, Scaleless, made of cartilage rather than bone

Question 37

Fin Fish

Answer 37

Ray-finned (most common) or Lobe-finned (most are extinct)

Question 38

Amphibians

Answer 38

Only in freshwater systems, most start lives as obligate aquatic organisms complete with gills before metamorphosing into adult form with lungs for air // Includes frogs (90% of amphibian diversity) and salamanders

Question 39

Reptiles

Answer 39

A lot of extinct marine species, in freshwater or marine systems, semi-aquatic or obligate aquatic animals, do not have larval aquatic stage, often lay eggs on land (yet sea snakes can give birth to live young in water), shed skin throughout year

Question 40

Birds

Answer 40

Freshwater and marine systems, some more aquatic or terrestrial, depends a lot on species // Include seabirds (feed at sea), shorebirds, waders (cool adaptations like long legs, necks, and beaks to keep feathers dry; herons, egrets, flamingos), waterfowl (duck, geese, swan, magpie, webbed feet, sexually antagonistic evolution, had waterfowl at time of dinosaurs)

Question 41

Mammals

Answer 41

Freshwater and marine systems, often presence of hair or fur and live young that they nurse, take up 10% of marine primary production // marine mammals, hippopotami, rodents, shrews, otters and minks, platypus

Question 42

Relative Abundance

Answer 42

How much of a specific species contributes to the total number of species in a community

Question 43

Simpson’s Diversity Index

Answer 43

One way to measure species diversity, measures diversity through probability, the probability that two individuals from a random sample will belong to the same species

Question 44

Traits

Answer 44

Specific characteristics of an individual, can affect the ability of a species to thrive in a habitat // Can be biological (morphology, physiology, life history) or ecological (habitat preference) // K (like humans) and r (like mice) species exist in suites

Question 45

Adaptation

Answer 45

How an organism becomes best suited to its habitat, can take multiple generations // can be physiological, morphological, or behavioral

Question 46

Aquatic Biodiversity

Answer 46

Much higher in the variety of phyla and classes

Question 47

Biodiversity Levels

Answer 47

Point, habitat, or regional

Question 48

Functional Diversity

Answer 48

Defined by the number of functional groups, such as deposit feeders, scavengers, pioneer encrusting suspension feeders

Question 49

Redundancy Hypothesis

Answer 49

An increasing number of species increases ecosystem functionality proportionally less as the number of species approaches a point where further additions have no net effect

Question 50

Ecosystem Functionality

Answer 50

This is unlikely to be affected by the loss of one or two species in species-rich systems

Question 51

Species-Poor Systems

Answer 51

Expected to be the most vulnerable to external forcing factors, where the loss of one or two species would have a greater proportionate effect on ecosystem functioning

Question 52

Scale Effects

Answer 52

The spatial and temporal scales at which biodiversity is sampled greatly affect the results

Question 53

Relative Abundance

Answer 53

How much of a specific species contributes to the total number of species in a community

Question 54

What does Simpson’s Diversity Index consider?

Answer 54

Both species richness and relative abundance to measure species diversity