Biodiversity' Flashcards

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1
Q

What is biodiversity

A
  • the variety of living organisms in an area
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2
Q

Importance of biodiversity

A
  • maintains a balanced ecosystem as species are interconnected
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3
Q

Which regions have the most biodiversity

A
  • tropical moist regions
  • closer to the equator= greater biodiversity
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4
Q

What is habitat biodiversity

A
  • the number of habitats found within an area
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5
Q

What is a community

A
  • all of the populations of living organisms in a particular habitat
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6
Q

What is species richness

A
  • the number of DIFFERENT species living in an area
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7
Q

What is species evenness

A
  • the comparison of the numbers of individuals of each species living in a community
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8
Q

What is genetic biodiversity, what’s it caused by

A
  • the variety of genes that make up a species
  • caused by different alleles
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9
Q

What is sampling

A
  • taking measurements of a limited number of organisms present in an area to estimate total number without counting
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10
Q

What is species abundance

A
  • number of individuals of a species present within an area
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11
Q

What is random sampling, how it can be done

A
  • selecting individuals by chance, everyone has an equal chance of selection
  • done by random selecting of co-ordinates to sample from a grid
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12
Q

What is opportunistic sampling

A
  • uses organisms available
  • weakest form
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13
Q

What is stratified sampling

A
  • sub groups in a population identified, samples taken proportionally to sub-group ratios
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14
Q

What is systematic sampling

A
  • take samples at specified points
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15
Q

What is sampling bias

A
  • accident or purposeful
  • researcher may choose certain areas that lead to bias results
  • overcome by random sampling
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16
Q

Influence of chance on sampling

A
  • organisms may not be represented due to chance
  • more individuals studies= lower probability that chance interferes
  • larger sample= more reliable results
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17
Q

What is a pooter

A
  • catches small insects
  • sucking on a mouthpiece to draw insects up into a holding chamber to be samples
  • filter in mouthpiece to stop entry
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18
Q

What is a sweep net

A
  • catches insects in areas of long grass
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19
Q

What is a pitfall trap

A
  • catches crawling insects and invertebrates
  • dig a hole in ground, deep enough that insects can’t crawl out
  • covering over top to prevent water
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20
Q

What is tree beating

A
  • samples invertebraes in trees and bushes
  • cloth stretched under tree, shake tree to dislodge organisms, fall into cloth
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21
Q

What is kick sampling

A
  • studies organisms in a river
  • kick river bed/bank, hold net downstream to capture organisms released into water
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22
Q

What is a plant quadrat- not frame

A
  • a frame containing a horizontal bar at set intervals
  • long pins pushed through bar to reach floor, plants touching pins recorded
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23
Q

What is a frame quadrat

A
  • square frame divided into a grid of squares
  • species within each square recorded
  • can randomise selected squares
  • can place along transect
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24
Q

How to use a frame quadrat- density, frequency, percentage cover

A
  • density= count number of plants, calculate density/ square meter, absolute measure
  • frequency= used when hard to count, count squares in quadrat, work out frequency of occurrence, an estimate
  • percentage cover= estimate area through observation
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24
Q

What is capture, mark , release, recapture

A
  • capture as many individuals of a species as possible, mark captured ones, release back into habitat
  • collect another sample after time, compare marked with unmarked
  • greater number of marked organisms recaptured, the smaller the populations
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25
Q

What is an abiotic factor

A
  • non-living conditions which affect a habitat and have a direct effect on organisms
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26
Q

How to measure abiotic factors, units
(wind, relative humidity, light intensity)

A
  • wind speed= anemometer, m/s
  • light intensity= light meter, lx
  • relative humidity= humidity sensor, mg/dm3
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27
Q

What is Simpson’s index of biodiversity

A
  • a way to measure biodiversity, takes evenness and richness into account
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28
Q

Meanings of results from Simpson’s index of biodiversity

A
  • 0= no diversity
  • 1= infinite diversity
  • the higher the index, the more diverse the habitat
29
Q

What does a high diversity indicate

A
  • lots of successful species
  • not a stressful environment
  • many species with few specific adaptations
  • complex food webs
  • CHANGES TO ENVIRONMENT HAVE SMALL EFFECT
30
Q

Issues if having a low diversity

A
  • organisms may be highly adapted to environment, not survive in other habitats
31
Q

Factors increasing genetic biodiversity (increase number of possible alleles)

A
  • mutations- leads to new alleles
  • gene flow- interbreeding, transfers alleles
32
Q

Factors decreasing genetic biodiversity (decrease number of possible alleles)

A
  • selective breeding
  • captive breeding programmes
  • artificial cloning
  • rare breeds
  • natural selection
  • genetic bottlenecks
  • founder effect
  • genetic drift
33
Q

What is a polymorphic gene

A
  • have more than 1 allele that exists (2 or more variant forms can exist)
34
Q

What is a monomorphic gene

A
  • a single allele exists for the gene
35
Q

How to work out the proportion of polymorphic gene loci

A

proportion of polymorphic gene loci=
number of polymorphic gene loci/ total number of loci

36
Q

What is meant by loci

A
  • position of genes on a chromosome
37
Q

Human factors affecting biodiversity

A
  • deforestation
  • climate change
  • agriculture
38
Q

Impact of deforestation

A
  • occurs naturally but mainly due to human activity
  • can occur through acid rain
  • reduces number of trees in an area
  • reduces genetic biodiversity
  • reduces number of habitat species
  • destroys habitats and food sources
  • animals may migrate- increase neighbouring diversity
39
Q

Impact of agriculture on diversity

A
  • growing few species of plant reduces biodiversity of the area
  • techniques to maximise plant and food production decrease biodiversity e.g. DEFORESTATION, REMOVAL OF HEDGEROWS (removes habitats), PESTICIDES (destroys pest species, affects food sources) HERBICIDES (kill weeds, reducing plant diversity and food sources) MONOCULTURE (farms grow 1 crop for acres)
40
Q

Impact of climate change on biodiversity

A
  • Warming trend over time
  • Increases amount of water vapour in air
  • mountain glaciers and snow cover declined globally
  • average global ocean temperature increased
  • Impacts due to global warming- a rise in the Earths mean surface temperature:
  • Melting of ice caps (habitats)
  • Rising sea levels (habitats, flood, increased salt water flow)
  • high temperatures and low rain (loss of non-xerophytes)
  • change to insects life cycles and population
41
Q

How gradual climate change helps

A
  • allows organisms to have time to adapt to new conditions, or to migrate
42
Q

Key reasons for maintaining biodiversity

A
  • aesthetic
  • economic
  • ecological
43
Q

Aesthetic reasons for maintaining biodiversity

A
  • enriches lives
  • walk, beach etc.
  • inspiration for people
  • faster recovery from injury and stress
44
Q

Economic reasons for maintaining biodiversity

A
  • long-term productivity
  • soil erosion/ desertification reduces crop growth
  • can lead to loss of undiscovered species which can have rich potential sources of e.g. medicines
  • rich diversity more attractive for tourists
  • cross-breeding allows food sources to have increased disease resistance
45
Q

Ecological reasons for maintaining biodiversity

A
  • organisms are interdependent on each other
  • removal of key stone species large impact
46
Q

What is a keystone species

A
  • species that play a role in maintaining structure of an ecological community, have a large effect relative to abundance
47
Q

Ways humans can increase biodiversity

A
  • farming
  • grazing
  • planting of hedges
  • creating natural habitats
48
Q

What is conservation

A
  • preservation and careful management of the environment and of natural resources
49
Q

In situ vs Ex situ conservation

A
  • in= within the organisms natural habitat
  • ex= removal of the organisms from their natural habitat
50
Q

Ranking of species according the their abundance in the wild (least risk to most risk)

A
  • non-threatened
  • vulnerable (likely to be endangered soon)
  • endangered (risk of extinction in short term)
  • extinct in wild (only exist in captivity)
  • extinct (none exist anywhere)
51
Q

What is sustainable development

A
  • meeting the needs of people today without limiting the ability of future generations to meet their needs
52
Q

Features of in-situ conservation

A
  • occurs in natural habitat
  • maintains genetic biodiversity
  • allows endangered species to interact with each other naturally
  • cheaper than ex-situ
53
Q

Examples of in-situ- wildlife reserves

A
  • once an area has been designated as a wildlife reserve, active management is required
  • controlled grazing- allows land and species to recover
  • restricting human access- fence areas off/ make paths
  • control poaching- by fines, defences etc.
  • feeding animals so they survive to reproductive age
  • reintroduce species (where numbers were decreased/ locally extinct)
  • culling/removal of invasive species (remove organisms who had a negative effect on an environment)
  • halting succession- protects habitats health
54
Q

Example of in-situ conservation= marine conservation zones

A
  • builds areas of refuge within which population can build up
  • requires large areas of sea
  • vital for preserving species rich areas e.g. coral reefs
55
Q

Examples of ex-situ conservation= Botanical Gardens

A
  • allows plants can be grown successfully
  • species actively managed to provide them with the best resources to grow
56
Q

Examples of ex-situ conservation= Seed Banks

A
  • store of genetic material
  • seeds carefully stored so new plants can be grown in the future
  • dried and stored at -20c to maintain viability, slow down rate at which seeds lose ability to germinate
  • estimated to stay viable for centuries, help manage extinction
57
Q

Examples of ex-situ conservation= Captive breeding programmes

A
  • production of offspring in a human controlled environment
  • aims to create stable, healthy populations, that can be gradually reintroduced back into natural habitat
  • provide animals with shelter, food, vet treatment, absence of predators
  • suitable mating partners can be imported from other zoos
58
Q

Purpose of the international catalogue

A
  • contains genealogical information on organisms around the world
  • can be used to arrange mating to maintain gene pool variety, mate with best partners
59
Q

Why might organisms bred in captivity not be suitable for release into the wild

A
  • diseases= not encountered, no resistance
  • genetic races= can’t interbreed
  • behaviour= behaviours learnt through observation/experience not present
  • habitat= can lead to fighting if natural habitat not large enough to supply all organisms
60
Q

What does CITES stand for

A
  • Convention of international trade in endangered species
61
Q

What does the IUCN stand for

A
  • International union for the conservation of nature
62
Q

Purpose of the IUCN

A
  • assist in securing agreements between nations
  • publishes conservation status of threatened animals
  • involved in establishments of CITES
63
Q

Purpose of CITES

A
  • regulate international trade of wild plant and animal specimens, and their products
  • regulate trade across borders and between countries
64
Q

What does CBD stand for

A
  • Convention on biological diversity
65
Q

What does UNFCCC stand for

A
  • United Nations framework convention on climate change
66
Q

What does UNCCD

A
  • United Nations convention to combat desertification
67
Q

Aims of the Rio Convention

A
  • meeting of 172 nations
  • resulted in agreements to manage biodiversity
  • led to CBD, UNFCCC, UNCCD
68
Q

Aims of the CBD

A
  • requires countries to develop national strategies for sustainable development, ensuring maintenance of biodiversity
69
Q

Aims of UNFCCC

A
  • agreement between nations to take steps to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations within the atmosphere
70
Q

Aims of the UNCCD

A
  • aims to prevent transformation of fertile land into desert
  • reduce drought effects
71
Q

What is the countryside stewardship scheme, aims

A
  • local level
  • government offer payments to farmers and land managers to enhance and conserve UK landscapes
  • aims to sustain beauty + diversity, improve, extend and create wildlife habitats, restore neglected land, conserve archaeological + historic features, improve opportunities for countryside enjoyment
  • now replaced with a similar Environmental Stewardship scheme