Biodiversity Flashcards
What is biodiversity
The number and variety of living organisms in an area
What is a habitat
The place where an organism lives
What is a species
Group of organisms with similar characteristics and potentially able to interbreed to have fertile offspring
What is a population
A group of organisms of the same species living in the same place at the same time
What is a community
All of the organisms of all the different species in a habitat living and interacting with each other
What is an ecosystem
A system made up of all the organisms and the environment in which they live and interact
What is habitat biodiversity
The number of different habitats in an area
What is species biodiversity
The number of different species and abundance of each species in an area
What is genetic biodiversity
The variation of alleles within a population of a species
Why does increased habitat biodiversity increase species biodiversity
Range of habitats provides greater range of physical, chemical and biotic conditions and a more stable and established environment
When is genetic diversity low
When populations are small and isolated
What is endemism
When a species is unique to a single place eg the giant tortoise is endemic to the Galapagos Islands
What is species richness
The number of different species in an area
What is species evenness
The relative abundance of each species (high when populations have similar abundance)
How is random sampling used to measure abundance
Choose suitable quadrat size, place quadrats at random coordinates, identify species and measure abundance, estimate total using mean
How is systematic sampling used to measure abundance
Put tape measure across habitat and record all the species touching the line or use quadrats to record species at equal intervals up the line
Index of diversity equation with what the letters represent
D=N(N-1)/E n(n-1)
E=sum of(total)
N=total number of organisms of all species
n=total number of organisms of a particular species
What does a low value for D mean
Habitat low in species so a small change to the environment would have a serious impact
What does a high value for D mean
Habitat diverse and species rich and able to withstand some environmental impact
Equation for heterozygosity index
Heterozygosity index(H) =number of heterozygotes/number of individuals in population
-the greater the proportion of heterozygotes the more genetic biodiversity
