Biodiversity Flashcards
How do we classify animals?
They are put into groups at different levels, with few similarities (a kingdom) down to a species with lots in common. The characteristics for grouping are physical features and DNA.
What does the classification of living and fossil organisms help with?
Making sense of the large diversity on Earth and showing the evolutionary steps that connect organisms.
What does biodiversity refer to?
The number of different species.
The range of different types of organisms.
The genetic variation within species.
Why is biodiversity important and why is it under threat?
Biodiversity is high in places like rainforests which could be helpful for the discovery of new food crops and medicines. Species are going extinct faster than ever before potentially connected to human activity in hunting animals and destroying habitats.
What is sustainability and how are we effecting the planets sustainability?
Sustainability is meeting the needs of today without stopping future generations from meeting theirs. Our involvement in decreasing the number of species is not sustainable. Large scale monoculture crop production is also unsustainable as it discourages biodiversity and over farms land.
How and why should we try to improve sustainability for example in our use of packaging?
We should try to cut down on the the amount of packaging we use and try to use materials that decompose faster. Even these materials however use lots of energy and take up space in landfill. Meaning the resources and environment of the future are at risk.
