Biodiversity and Conservation

Question 1

What is species diversity?

Answer 1

A product of two variables, the number of species and their relative proportions in a given community.

Question 2

What is species richness?

Answer 2

The number of species in a given community.

Question 3

What is species evenness?

Answer 3

The relative proportions of species in a given community.

Question 4

What is habitat diversity?

Answer 4

Refers to the range of different habitats in an ecosystem or biome

Question 5

What is genetic diversity?

Answer 5

Refers to the range of genetic material present in the population of a species

Question 6

What are examples of habitats with high species diversity?

Answer 6

Coral reef or rainforest

Question 7

What are examples of habitats with low species diversity?

Answer 7

Urban areas or polar regions

Question 8

Is a smaller or bigger population more likely to have higher genetic diversity?

Answer 8

A bigger one because there is a bigger gene pool

Question 9

What is the disadvantage of low genetic diversity?

Answer 9

If there is a disease, they will all die. Not adaptable.

Question 10

How do humans alter genetic diversity?

Answer 10

Artifical breeding or genetic engineering populations to have little genetic variation.

Question 11

Advantages of genetic engineering?

Answer 11

High yeilding crops

Question 12

Disadvantages of genetic engineering?

Answer 12

Disease could wipe out most

Question 13

What can biodiversity measure?

Answer 13

Ecosystem health

Question 14

What are the advantages or a habitat with high biodiversity?

Answer 14

• Resilience and stability

* Genetic diversity so resistance to diseases

Question 15

Disadvantages of a habitat with high biodiversity?

Answer 15

• Diversity could be the result of fragmentation of a habitat when species richness.
• Managing grazing can be difficult as plant species have different requirements and tolerance to grazing.
• Some stable and healthy communities have few plant species so are an exception to the rule.

Question 16

If two similar communities have different diversity levels, what could this indicate?

Answer 16

The one with lower diversity could be evidence of pollution, eutrophication or recent colonisation of a site.
You should repeat tests over a period of time to see if it is natural or not.

Question 17

What is a biodiversity hotspot?

Answer 17

A region with a high level of biodiversity that is under threat from human activities.

Question 18

What are the determinant factors with hotspots?

Answer 18

• 70% of the habitat has been lost
• The habitat contains more than 1,500 species of plants which are endemic
• They cover only 2.3% of the land surface

Question 19

Why do critics say about hotspots?

Answer 19

• They focus on vascular plants and ignore animals
• Do not represent total species diversity or richness
• Focus on regions where habitats, usually forest, have been lost and ignore whether that loss is still happening
• Do not consider genetic diversity
• Do not consider the value of services

Question 20

What is an endemic species?

Answer 20

A species that exists nowhere else in the world