Biodiversity

Question 1

What is Biodiversity?

Answer 1

the variety of species in an area

range of different habitats

Question 2

What is habitat biodiversity?

Answer 2

the range of habitats in which different species live

Question 3

What is a habitat?

Answer 3

where an organisms lives

Question 4

What is a species?

Answer 4

a group of organisms that can that can interbreed to produce fertile offspring

Question 5

What is genetic biodiversity?

Answer 5

the variation between individuals belonging to the same species

Question 6

what are the three different kinds of biodiversity

Answer 6

habitat biodiversity
genetic biodiversity
species biodiversity

Question 7

what is species biodiversity?

Answer 7

the range of organisms found in a habitat

Question 8

What is sampling?

Answer 8

studying a small proportion and multiplying it to get a whole habitat

Question 9

What is a method to sample animals?

Answer 9

1. Look for signs that they have left behind for example footprints, droppings, borrows and nests – droppings can be distinguished by using DNA

Question 10

What are the different ways to catch invertebrates?

Answer 10

sweep netting, collecting from trees, tullgren funnel, light trap, pitfall trap

Question 11

How does a sweeping net work?

Answer 11

walking through the habitat with a tout net while sweeping the net through vegetation in wide sweeps. Small animals (insects) will be caught in the net. Then empty the content on a white sheet and identify the animals making sure they do not fly away. To stop them flying away use a pooter

Question 12

How does collecting from trees work?

Answer 12

spread a white sheet under a branch and knock the branch with a stout stick, this would cause the small animals to fall and then identify them before they fly away

Question 13

How des a Tullgren Funnel work?

Answer 13

this collects small animals from leaf litter, the lead litter is placed in the funnel and the light above the litter drives the animals downwards, they then fall through a mesh screen to be collected in a jar underneath the funnel

Question 14

How does a light trap work?

Answer 14

this is used to collect flying insects at night, the ultraviolet light attracts the insect, they then fall into the vessel containing alcohol underneath

Question 15

How does a pitfall trap work?

Answer 15

this is a small container buried in the soil so its rim is below the surface, therefore any animals moving through the soil will fall into it. To stop the animals crawling out again put a little water in it.

Question 16

How do you trap small animals?

Answer 16

They can be trapped using a longworth trap (this does not harm the animal) therefore allows the population size to be calculated

Question 17

How does a longworth trap work?

Answer 17

1. Capture animals
2. Mark them in a way that doesn’t cause harm
3. Release the marked animals and leave traps for the next time
4. The number of marked animals on the second occasion is C2, the number of already marked animals on the second occasion in C3
5. Total population

Question 18

What is the estimate affected by?

Answer 18

The estimate is affected by the animals that learn the trap is harmless and has food or by those that don’t like being trapped and therefore keep away

Question 19

How do you measure species richness? and what is species richness

Answer 19

count all the species

the number of different species present in a habitat

Question 20

How do you measure species evenness?

Answer 20

carry out a quantitive survey

Question 21

How do you measure the density?

Answer 21

calculate how many animals of each species there are per unit area

Question 22

What is simpson’s index?

Answer 22

D=1-(n/N)2

Question 23

What does a high value of simpson’s index equal?

what does a low value of simpson’s index suggest

Answer 23

a high value = diverse habitat
A low value = this suggests that there is low species evenness and therefore one species may dominate, they have a low ability to withstand change and therefore the environment is not stable and at risk

Question 24

Why is a high diverse habitat stable?

Answer 24

a small change in the environment which effects one species then other species wont be as effected due to a more complex food chain therefore the overall effect is small

Question 25

what does assessing genetic biodiversity help do?

Answer 25

helps assess the value of population as a resource for conservation

Question 26

How do you measure genetic biodiversity

Answer 26

look at features of species and see if they vary in the population or between population

Question 27

How do you calculate biodiversity

Answer 27

calculate the percentage of loci in a population that have more that one allele

Question 28

What are the reasons to maintain biodiversity?

Answer 28

``` feed the world provide more and better medicine maintain economies provide life support for our biosphere food web disruption satisfy human curiosity provide natural beauty respect life in all its forms ```

Question 29

What is a keystone species?

Answer 29

a species that has a disproportionately large effect on the environment

Question 30

What is interdependence?

Answer 30

established communities of animals and plants are interdependent and rely on each other to survive

Question 31

beaver example for keystone species?

Answer 31

chops down trees allowing light to reach other plants and increases biodiversity as new plants grow they build dams this makes the river rise and new aquatic plants grow increases insects to feed on plants increases large animals to feed on insects

Question 32

otter example for keystone species?

Answer 32

otters feed on sea urchin, sea urchins feed on kelp if the otter did not eat sea urchins then population would rapidly increase and the kelp population would decreases, other animals would die out as there is no food and the ecosystems become inhabitable

Question 33

agriculture example

Answer 33

same plant - same minerals therefore it depreciates the soil of minerals fertilisers replace the minerals but are harmful to animals unmanned ecosystems have minerals replaced naturally

Question 34

How does biodiversity help feed the world?

Answer 34

without a biodiverse plant species disease or natural disasters could wipe them out therefore resulting in famine

Question 35

how does biodiversity provide life support for our biosphere

Answer 35

e.g. forest absorbing carbon dioxide

Question 36

How does biodiversity maintain economies

Answer 36

``` wipe out= financial hardship regulating atmosphere and climate purification and retention of fresh water formation and fertilisation of soil detoxification and recycling of wastes crop pollution growth of timber medicine ```

Question 37

why has the human population grown in size?

Answer 37

- better medicine | - better ways of doing agriculture

Question 38

what effect are humans having on the world?

Answer 38

- they alter ecosystems to provide ourselves with food - we destroy and fragment habitats - we use more of earths resources - we pollute the atmosphere

Question 39

How does agriculture affect biodiversity?

Answer 39

- we clear vegetation reducing the size of habitats and the population size of those animals living in the habitats, this reduces the genetic biodiversity of the species as their population is decreased therefore the species has less chance of adapting to changing conditions through evolution - isolated and fragmented populations that are too small to survive

Question 40

How does monoculture affect biodiversity?

Answer 40

monoculture is a crop consisting of one strain of species this means that it has low genetic biodiversity + makes crop easier to harvest - rainforests which have high natural genetic and species biodiversity are cut down and replaced with a species which has low genetic biodiversity

Question 41

How does selective breeding affect biodiversity?

Answer 41

- reduces genetic biodiversity as farmers select particular characteristics which mean that other traits are ignored, therefore decreasing the genetic biodiversity - breeds become rare and die out this process of decreasing biodiversity is known as genetic erosion + best yield in specific climate

Question 42

How does climate change affect biodiversity

Answer 42

species who now have less genetic biodiversity and are therefore less able to adapt to the changing climate - therefore they have to migrate in order to follow the climate patterns which suit them the best - there are things stopping the migration such as human developments, agricultural land, large bodies of water, mountain ranges

Question 43

what are the main things that affect biodiversity?

Answer 43

climate change, | agriculture - monoculture and selective breeding

Question 44

what is particularly at risk from climate change?

Answer 44

domesticated crop plants and animals as they have been adapted in selective breeding therefore have a low genetic biodiversity therefore will find it hard to adapt to the changing climate and are vulnerable to disease

Question 45

when does extinction occur?

Answer 45

when the last member of a living species has died and therefore the species ceases to exist - the rate of extinction is 100-1000 times the rate of which is usually is - half species that are around today could be extinct by 2100 - the extinction rate is at least as fast as in any previous extinction rate

Question 46

What are the types of sampling?

Answer 46

random | non-random - opportunistic, stratified, systematic

Question 47

How is random sampling carried out and what are the advantages and disadvantages

Answer 47

- sample sites inside the habitat are randomly selected, you do this by deciding where to take sample before you study the area in detail - randomly generated numbers, or satellite system to randomly select + not biased - may lead to an underestimate of biodiversity as not every area is covered

Question 48

How is opportunistic sampling carried out and what are the advantages and disadvantages?

Answer 48

- this is when the researcher makes sampling decisions based on prior knowledge or during the process of collecting data, the researcher might deliberately sample are area that contains a particular species + quicker and easier than random sampling - biased - overestimate of biodiversity as large or colourful species may attract the investigator

Question 49

How is stratified sampling carried out and what are the advantages and disadvantages?

Answer 49

-dividing a habitat into areas which appear to be different and sampling each area separately + ensures all areas of a habitat are sampled and species are not under-represented due to random sampling missing areas - over representation in some areas due to Add to disproportionate number of samples taken in small areas that look different

Question 50

How is systematic sampling carried out and what are the advantages and disadvantages?

Answer 50

- when samples are taken at fixed intervals across the habitat - belt or line transects + useful when habitat shows a clear gradient such as an environmental factor - only species on the line or within the belt can be recorded other species may be missed leading to an underrepresentation of biodiversity

Question 51

What is the positive of wild plants and animals to agriculture

Answer 51

Can breed therefore higher genetic biodiversity Can breed to prevent certain diseases Quicker growth Natural predators to pests

Question 52

How to answer that stupid 5 mark question

Answer 52

- same technique used in each habitat, repeat the experiment in each habitat, use random sampling to reduce bias, record the organism that you collect using a suitable method name method that you use for sampling - take samples at different times of the year

Question 53

What is the importance of sampling

Answer 53

- sampling provides an evidence - sampling provides an representative - difficult to count all individuals

Question 54

why are both species richness and evenness needed to assess biodiversity

Answer 54

- both species richness and species evenness are needed to reveal dominance - high biodviersity is done by high species richness and high species evenness

Question 55

What is phylogeny

Answer 55

- evolutionary relationships between organisms | - basis of classification