Biodiversity

Question 1

Define habitat

Answer 1

The place where an organism lives

Question 2

Define community

Answer 2

All of the organisms of all the different species in a habitat living and interacting with each other

Question 3

Define ecosystem

Answer 3

A self-contained, self perpetuating system, made up of all the organisms and the environment in which they live and interact

Question 4

Define population

Answer 4

A group of organisms of the same species living in the same place at the same time

Question 5

Define biodiversity

Answer 5

The variability among living organisms and their interactions with the environment

Question 6

Define a species

Answer 6

Group of organisms with similar characteristics and potentially able to interbreed and have fertile offspring

Question 7

What is habitat diversity and why is this good?

Answer 7

A range of habitats in an area
- provides a greater range of physical chemical and biotic conditions
-allows for greater species diversity

Question 8

What is species diversity and what are features of habitats with low species diversity?

Answer 8

The number of different species within a habitat
Areas with low species diversity tend to be:
-less stable or susceptible to change
-harsh
- agricultural
- whereas high tend to be more stable + established

Question 9

What is genetic diversity and when is this low?

Answer 9

The number of different alleles within a population; important for the survival and well being of a species/pop.
It is low when
- populations are small and isolated
- relatively few varieties are farmed
- to increase, outbreeding/ breeding programmes

Question 10

What is endemism?

Answer 10

When a species is unique to a single place e.g. giant tortoise is endemic to Galápagos Islands

Question 11

What is species richness?

Answer 11

The number of different species in an area

Question 12

What is species evenness?

Answer 12

Relative abundance of each species in a habitat (species with similar abundance = high evenness)

Question 13

What do the letters represent in the equation for calculating index of biodiversity? D= 1 – (∑ (n/N)^2)

Answer 13

D = index of diversity
∑ = sum of
N = total number of organisms of all species
n = total number of organisms of a particular species

Question 14

What is genetic diversity?

Answer 14

Different alleles occuring within a gene pool of a species or population

Question 15

How do we calculate genetic biodiversity?

Answer 15

Heterozygosity index
H = number of heterozygotes/ number of individuals in a population