Biodiversity

Question 1

What is biodiversity?

Answer 1

A measure of the variety of organisms and their genetic differences

Question 2

What do we need to measure biodiversity?

Answer 2

-Number of different species in the area
-Abundance of species

Question 3

What is species richness?

Answer 3

The number of different species in an area

Question 4

What is species evenness?

Answer 4

The relative number of different types of organisms

Question 5

What is the index of diversity?

Answer 5

Where the species richness and abundance are taken into account in a formula

Question 6

What causes biodiversity to vary across the world?

Answer 6

-Climate change
-Human activities e.g. deforestation
-Natural events e.g. a flood
-Time of day/year
-Some abiotic features are more favourable than others

Question 7

What is a biodiversity hotspot?

Answer 7

Areas with particularly high biodiversity

Question 8

What is an endemic population?

Answer 8

A species that evolves in geographical isolation and is only found in one area

Question 9

What is genetic diversity?

Answer 9

The total number of different alleles in the gene pool of a population

Question 10

How does genetic diversity lead to species surviving?

Answer 10

-Greater diversity = more likely that the species will be able to adapt to environmental changes
-Wider range of alleles = wider range of characteristics meaning species are more likely to have the adapted characteristics to survive

Question 11

How do you compare genetic diversity?

Answer 11

-Frequency of observable characteristics
-Base sequence of DNA
-Base sequence of mRNA
-Amino acid sequence of proteins

Question 12

Why do scientists use DNA sequencing?

Answer 12

More direct and less open to subjective interpretation

Question 13

What is allele frequency?

Answer 13

The frequency with which a particular allele appears within a population

Question 14

What is an advantageous feature?

Answer 14

The frequency of an allele will be selected and increase the frequency of it within the population

Question 15

What is a disadvantageous feature?

Answer 15

Natural selection will remove the allele from the gene pool or be used at a low frequency

Question 16

What is a gene pool?

Answer 16

The complete set of genetic information within a population of a given species or within a species itself
-Large gene pool = very diverse, varied, more likely to survive an environmental change
-Shallow gene pool = not very diverse, less likely to survive change

Question 17

What are the ethical arguments for maintaining biodiversity?

Answer 17

-Denying future generations to use these renewable natural resources
-The natural world is a source of pleasure for people
-Can potentially cause mass extinction due to climate change

Question 18

What are the economic reasons for maintaining biodiversity?

Answer 18

-Provides fibres for clothing
-Ecosystems help maintain air quality
-Healthy ecosystems are important for human health and well-being

Question 19

What are ecosystem services?

Answer 19

Services provided by the natural environment that are a benefit to people
e.g. shelter, food, water, fuel

Question 20

What are provisioning services?

Answer 20

Ecosystems provide all sorts of provisions, greater biodiversity = more services available
e.g. food, medicines, fuel

Question 21

What are regulating services?

Answer 21

Processes which help maintain and regulate our environment
e.g. pest control, climate regulation, sewage treatment

Question 22

What are supporting services?

Answer 22

Ecosystems providing support for other ecosystem services we need
e.g. soil formation, cycling carbon

Question 23

What are cultural services?

Answer 23

A bio-diverse and healthy ecosystem is important for human health and well-being and to be used for recreation and education
e.g. tourism, education, research

Question 24

What is in-situ conservation?

Answer 24

When species are conserved inside/within their natural habitat maintaining biodiversity
e.g wildlife reserves, national parks

Question 25

What are the advantages to in-situ conservation?

Answer 25

-It doesn’t remove the species from its habitat
-Cheaper than ex-situ conservation
-Protects the biodiversity of the ecosystem

Question 26

What are the disadvantages of in-situ conservation?

Answer 26

-Too much biodiversity may have been lost to let the species adapt in its natural environment
-Wildlife reserves may be damaged by ecotourism

Question 27

What is ex-situ conservation?

Answer 27

When species are conserved outside of their natural habitat
e.g. zoos, seed banks

Question 28

What are the advantages of ex-situ conservation?

Answer 28

-Protects organisms from poaching and from predators
-Helps attract funding and awareness
-Uses artificial insemination which maximises reproduction and genetic diversity

Question 29

What are the disadvantages of ex-situ conservation?

Answer 29

-Limited genetic diversity
-Hard to provide a sustainable environment
-Hard to release the animals back into the wild because they have not learnt the necessary behaviour

Question 30

What is conservation?

Answer 30

Maintaining and protecting a living and changing environment

Question 31

What is a seed bank?

Answer 31

When live seeds are collected they are checked to contain fully developed embryos, they are then dried and put into jars stored between -20 to -40 degrees where they survive and are capable of germination for up to 200 years