Biodiversity

Question 1

Describe genetic biodiversity

Answer 1

• Can be assessed by calculating the percentage of gene variants (alleles) in a genome within isolated populations
• Can also be represented by the number of breeds within a species

Question 2

What is a pooter used for, and how does it work?

Answer 2

• Used to collect small insects
• Works by sucking air containing the insects into a plastic container via a tube

Question 3

What are pitfall traps and sweep nets used for?

Answer 3

• Pitfall traps used to catch small, ground-crawling animals like insects and spiders
• Sweep nets are used for catching insects in long grass or air, where the net is sweeped in a figure of eight motion

Question 4

What is stratified sampling?

Answer 4

• Population is divided into sub groups based on certain characteristics
• A random sample is then taken from each subgroup

Question 5

Describe Simpson’s Index of Biodiversity

Answer 5

• Measure of biodiversity in a habitat that takes into account both species evenness and richness
• Always in between 0 and 1 with 1 representing infinite biodiversity and 0 no biodiversity
• n is single species, N is overall

Question 6

How does agriculture reduce species diversity?

Answer 6

• Converting woodland and hedgerows into fields reduces the number of species and destroys habitats
• Use of pesticides
• Use of inorganic fertilisers and runoff of effluent into water courses
• Absence of crop rotation creating a monoculture and depleting nutrients in soil

Question 7

How might climate change affect biodiversity?

Answer 7

• Melting of polar ice caps removes habitats for polar organisms
• Rising sea levels may lead to flooding of terrestrial habitats in low-lying land
• Changes in plant and animal populations due to migration
• Spread of tropical diseases

Question 8

What are the ecological, economic and aesthetic reasons
for maintaining biodiversity?

Answer 8

• Ecological - protecting keystone species to stabilise ecosystems and maintaining genetic resources
• Economic - reducing soil depletion (continuous monoculture, resulting in reducing diversity of soil nutrients) and for raw material compounds like timber
• Aesthetic - protecting landscapes

Question 9

What are the examples of in situ and ex situ conservation?

Answer 9

• In situ - marine conservation zones and wildlife reserves
• Ex situ - seed banks, botanic gardens and zoos

Question 10

What is a seed bank?

Answer 10

• Collects and stores seeds from many of the worlds plants
• If the plant becomes extinct in the wild, there will be seeds from which they can be grown in the future

Question 11

What does CITES stand for and what does it do?

Answer 11

• Convention on international trade
• Treaty that regulates the international trade of endangered wild plant and animal specimens and their products, such as ivory, fur and skin to prevent over-explotation

Question 12

What is the Rio convention?

Answer 12

Consists of three agreements between nations to
- maintain biodiversity
- stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations
- prevent transformation of fertile land into desert

Question 13

What is the countryside stewardship scheme?

Answer 13

• The scheme offered payments to farmers and land managers to enhance and conserve the landscape
• Aims to make conservation a part of normal farming and land management practice