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Z A level Biology > Biodiversity, classification and conservation > Flashcards

Biodiversity, classification and conservation Flashcards

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1
Q

What is a species?

A

A group of organisms with similar morphology and physiology, which can breed together to produce fertile offspring and are reproductively isolated from other species

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2
Q

What is an ecosystem?

A

A relatively self-contained interacting community of organisms, and the environment in which they live and with which they interact
-A forest ecosystem includes organisms and the soil, dead leaves, water in the rain and in streams

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3
Q

What is a niche?

A

The role of an organism in an ecosystem

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4
Q

How is a species names?

A
  • Binomial system

- First tits genus and the two names together indicate its species

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5
Q

Why is the estimate of the number of species limited?

A
  • Many going extinct

- Much of the world e.g. Deep oceans have not been explored

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6
Q

What is a habitat?

A

The place where an organism, a population or a community lives

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7
Q

What is biodiversity?

A
  • The degree of variation of life forms in an ecosystem

- The variant of ecosystems and species in an area and the genetic diversity within species

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8
Q

What is another definition for species?

A

A group of organisms which are very similar in appearance, anatomy, physiology, biochemistry and genetics. As a result they are capable of interbreeding successfully with each other to produce fertile offspring. A species consists of individuals that share a common gene pool

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9
Q

What is another definition for species?

A

A group of organisms which are very similar in appearance, anatomy, physiology, biochemistry and genetics. As a result they are capable of interbreeding successfully with each other to produce fertile offspring. A species consists of individuals that share a common gene pool
-Problems: wolf and dog fertile offspring so should be same species? (domestic dogs), not a sexual, to determine, use genetic analysis or appearance

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10
Q

What is meant by gene pool?

A

All the alleles of all the genes posses by all of an area

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11
Q

What is species richness?

A

The number of species in a community

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12
Q

What is species richness?

A

The number of species in a community

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13
Q

What is species diversity?

A
  • All the species in an ecosystem
  • Species diversity takes species diversity into account, but also includes a measure of the evens of the abundance of the different species
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14
Q

How many species are in an ecosystem?

A

-Some ecosystems are dominated by one or two species and other species may be rare

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15
Q

Describe why the tropics may be good for biodiversity

A

-The tropics are important centres for biodiversity possibly because living conditions are not too extreme (no snow ice frost) , there is high light intensity all year round and birds and mammals do not need to expend energy keeping warm

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16
Q

How can genetic diversity in a species be determined?

A

-All the individuals of a species have the same genes, but they do not

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17
Q

How can genetic diversity in a species be determined?

A
  • All the individuals of a species have the same genes, but they do not all have the same alleles of those genes
  • Genetic diversity within a species can be assessed by finding out what proton of genes have different alleles and how many alleles there are per gene
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18
Q

What is genetic diversity?

A
  • It is the diversity of alleles within the genes in the genome of a single species
  • All the alleles of all the genes in the genome of a species
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19
Q

Is there genetic diversity within a population?

A
  • This diversity is important in providing populations with the ability to adapt ti changes in biotic and abiotic factors, such as:
    1. Competition with other species
    2. Evading new predators
    3. Resisting new strains of disease
    4. Changes in temperature, salinity, humidity and rainfall
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20
Q

Why is random sampling important in determining the biodiversity of an area? How would you do this?

A
  • Avoid bias
  • Divide a field into a grid with coordinates and pairs of random numbers can be generated on a calculator in order to select the sampling points
  • Mark out an area with measuring tapes ad use a random number regenerator and the the random numbers give you the coordinates of the sampling points in relation to the two tacos you have used to mark out the area
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21
Q

How do you asses species diversity?

A
  • Identify and catalogue the types of organisms and build a species list
  • Use identification keys, e.g. drawings or phots with identifications or ask a series of questions
  • Most common key is dichotomous key
    1. Times search throughout area and see how many species you can collect and identify
    2. If you cannot identify a particular specie take photographs and label as species A and species B etc
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22
Q

How could you collect small animals such as tiny bottles?

A
  • A pooter
  • Breathing air into the mouth sucks up small animals into a plastic container
  • They can then be removed and studs and identified using a hand lens and then returned to their habitat
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23
Q

What is another definition for a habitat?

A
  • A habitat is the specific place where the individuals of a species live; to be precise it is the abiotic part of an ecosystem - in other words, the physics and chemical components such as the geology, climate, water and mineral content of the soil etc. The biotic part of an ecosystem is called the community - it is al if the individuals of all of the species in an ecosystem
  • A niche is the specific role or function of an organism in the habitat, and an ecosystem is the habitat along with its biotic component, the community
  • Ecosystem = habitat + community
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24
Q

How are different specie spread throughout the ecosystem and how many individuals of each species are there?

A

distribution and abundance

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25
Q

Why do you need to sample?

A
  • You cannot have perfect knowledge of the number, type, genetic taxonomic variety of all the species present
  • So need to examine a resperesentative portion of the habits in order to make an accurate statement about the overall biodiversity of the habitat
  • Take samples from the area we are interested in, and use these to make an estimate of the total numbers in the area
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26
Q

What are the two different types of sampling?

A
  • random and systematic
  • If an area looks reasonably uniform, or if there is no clear pattern to the way species are distributed, then it is best to use random sapling
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27
Q

What is a quadrat?

A
  • A square frame that marks off na area of ground, or water where you can identify the different species present and/or take a measurement of their abundance
  • You need to decide on a suitable size for the quadrate and how many samples you will take
  • A square frame which is used to mark out an area for sampling of organisms
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28
Q

What is species frequency? How do you calculate it?

A
  • A measure of the change of a particular species bring found within any one quadrat
    1. You record whether the species was present in each quadrate that you analyse
    2. E.G if placed quadrate 50 times and found daisy plants in 22 of these then species frequency is 22/50 x100 which is 44%
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29
Q

What is species density?

A
  • A measure of how many individuals there are per unit area e.g. per square metre
    1. The number of individuals that you have counted is divided by the total area of all your qaudrtas
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30
Q

Why might percentage cover be more suitable?

A
  1. It is not always possible to count individual plants and animals because of the way that they grow e.g. many animals and plants grow over surfaces forming a covering and it is almost impossible to count individuals
  2. Therefore estimate percentage cover of species within your quadrate
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31
Q

How do you estimate the percentage cover?

A
  1. Use a 100cm x 100cm quadrat with wires running across it at 10cm intervals in each direction dividing the quadrate into 100 smaller squares
  2. You then decide approximately what percentage pf the area inside the quadrate is occupied by each species
  3. These percentages may not add up to 100%
    - E.G bare ground in quadrate
    - Plants overlying one another
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32
Q

What is another way to estimate percentage cover of each species?

A

Use an abundance’s scale such as the Braun-Blanquet scale for number and plant cover

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33
Q

Why are quadrates not great?

A

No use for finding or counting mobile animals

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34
Q

How are small mammals caught?

A

Small mammals, such as mice and voles can be caught in traps that a re filled with hay for bedding and suitable food for beast

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35
Q

How can you catch insects and other invertebrates such as spiders?

A

Sweep netting

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36
Q

How do you sample aquatic organisms?

A

Use pond nets

37
Q

What are the limitations of these catching?

A
  • The techniques for this vary according to the size of the body of water and whether it is still moving
  • Single birds can be counted quite easily, although this does become more difficult to count, although it can be dine by counting a group of ten birds na decimating how many such groups there are
38
Q

What is a good method for estimating the population size of mobile organisms?

A
  • Mark-release-recapture

- A method of estimating the number of individuals in a population of mobile animals

39
Q

How do you carry out mark-release recapture?

A
  1. First as many individuals as possible is caught
  2. Each individual is marked in a way that will not affect its future chance of survival
  3. The marked individuals are counted, retuned to their habitat and left to mix randomly with the rest of the population
  4. When enough time has elapsed for the mixing to take place, another large sample is captured
  5. The number of marked and unmarked individuals is counted
  6. The proportion of marked to unmarked individuals is then used to calculate an estimate of the total number in the population
    - Look at textbooks
40
Q

What is Simpson’s Index of diversity?

A
  • A method to assess the biodiversity of an ecosystem
  • n is the totals number of organisms of a particular species
  • N total number of organisms of all species
  • Values of D range from 0 to 1
  • The higher the number for D the greater the diversity
41
Q

What does a D value near to 0 represent?

A

Very low species diversity

42
Q

What does a D value near 1 represent?

A

Very high species diversity

43
Q

What is an advantage of using Simpson’s index of diversity?

A
  • You do not need to identify all of even any of the organisms present to the level of species, you can just level A B
  • As long as you can recognise that they are different epics
  • However beware that some species have many phenotypic forms
44
Q

What does diversity depend on?

A
  • The number of different species there are and also the abundance of each of these species
  • A community with 10 species but where only one species is present in large number and the other 9 are very rare is less diverse that one with he same number of species but where several different species have a similar abundance
45
Q

How should comparisons using this diversity index be made?

A

On a like for like basis so communities should be similar and the organisms chosen should be similar so not compare diversity of fish in. ale with diversity of moths in a forest

46
Q

When is random sampling not always suitable? (Systematic sampling)

A
  • Investigate species distribution in an area where physical conditions such as soil posture content, soil pH and exposure to light intensity chance
  • Investigate change at the end of a field
    1. Randomly select a starting point in the field
    2. Lay out a measuring tape in a straight line to marshy area
    3. Then sample the organisms that are present along the line, called a transect
47
Q

What is a transect?

A

A line along with samples are taken, either by noting the species at equal distances (line transect) or placing quadrates at regular intervals (belt transect)

48
Q

What is a belt transect?

A
  • Place a quadrate at regular intervals along the line and record the abundance of each species within the qudarats
  • Data from a belt transect can be plotted as a set of bar charts or as a kite diagram
49
Q

How do you decide if there is an association between two factors?

A
  • Plot scatter graph and make judgement by eye

- Calculate correlation coefficient (r) to asses the strength f any correlation that you suspect to exist

50
Q

What is a correlation coefficient of 1?

A

When all points lie on a straight line: linear correlation

51
Q

What is a correlation coefficient of 0?

A

No correlation at all

52
Q

What is a positive correlation?

A

As variable A increase so do B

53
Q

What is a negative correlation?

A

As variable A increases, variable B decreases

54
Q

How can you calculate a correlation correlation to determine whether there is a linear relationship and to find out the strength of that relationship? What must you do?

A
  • The strength means how close the points are to a straight line
  • Pearson’s correlation coefficient can only be used where you can see that there might be a linear correlation
  • And when you have collected quantitative data as measurements (e.g. length, depth, height, light intensity, mass) or counts (e.g. number of plant species in quadrate
  • The data must be distribute normally or you must be fairly sure that this is the case
55
Q

What should you do if your data is collected is not quantitative but used an abundance scale or not sure if normally distributed or not correlated in linear fashion?

A
  • Calculate Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient

- This involves ranking the data recorded for each variable and assessing the difference between the ranks

56
Q

Whats important to remember about correlation?

A

Correlation is not causation so correlation does not mean that change in one variable cause changes in other variables

57
Q

What is the first step of Spearman’s rank correlation?

A
  1. Make a null hypothesis that there is no correlation between the percentage cover of the two species
    - n is number of pairs of items in the sample
    - D is the difference between each pair of ranked measurements and sigma is the sum of
58
Q

What is the second step for correlation?

A
  1. Draw a scatter graph to see if there is a correlation between the abundance of the two species
  2. Then calculate rs
    - If positive close to +1 e.g. 0.930 conclude a positive correlation and the strength of the association is very high
    - Reject null hypothesis and accept alternative hypothesis that there is a correlation
59
Q

When would you use Pearson’s correlation coefficient?

A
  1. Data collected are for two continue variables e.g. tree circumference and crack width and the data within each variable shows a normal distribution
  2. Calculates numbers between +1 and -1
60
Q

How do you calculate Person’s correlation coefficient?

A
  1. Check if relationship between two continuous variables is linear by drawing a scatter graph
  2. Data from variables shows normal
  3. Then plug into equation
61
Q

What is a taxon (pl taxa)?

A

One of the groups used in the hierarchal classification system for organisms e.g. species, genus, family, order, class, phylum, kingdom, domain

62
Q

What is a domain?

A

One of the three major groups into which all organisms are classified

63
Q

What is the order of hierarchy?

A
  1. Domain
  2. Kingdom
  3. Phylum
  4. Class
  5. Order
  6. Family
  7. Genus
  8. Species
64
Q

What are the three domains?

A 
Prokaryotes: 
1. Bacteria 
2. Arcahae
Eukaryotes: 
3. Eukarya
65
Q

Describe Archae

A
  • Extremophiles
  • Share features of both typical bacteria and eukaryotes
  • Live in extreme environment e.g. hot springs
  • Some produce methane cannot sure where there is oxygen nd have many unusual enzymes
  • But also found in less extreme environments e.g. plankton
66
Q

What are bacteria?

A
  • Prokaryotic as their cells have no nucleus
  • They are all small organisms that vary in size between that of the largest virus, and the smallest sing-celled eukaryote
67
Q

What are Archae?

A

A domain of prokaryotic organisms that resemble bacteria but share some features with eukaryotes

68
Q

What are Eurkarya?

A

A domain that contains all eukaryotic organisms; protoctists, fungi, plants and animals

69
Q

What are Archae?

A
  • Archaens are prokaryotic as they cells have no nucleus
  • Their range in size is similar to that of bacteria
  • Many inhabit extreme environments
  • The metabolism of archaeans is similar to that of bacteria, but the way in which transcription occurs has much in common with eukaryotes
70
Q

What are the characteristic features of archaeans? (7)

A
  1. Cells with no membrane bound organelles
  2. DNA exists as a circular ‘chromosome’ and does have histone proteins associated with it
  3. Smaller circular molecules of DNA called plasmids are often present
  4. Ribosomes (70S) are smaller than in eukaryotic cells, but they have features that are similar to those in eukaryotic ribosomes, not to bacterial ribosomes
  5. Cell wall always present, but does not contain peptidoglycan
  6. Cells divide by binary fission, not by mitosis
  7. Usually exist as single cells or small groups of cells
71
Q

What are the characteristic features of domain bacteria? (8)

A
  1. Cells with no nucleus
  2. DNA exists as a circular ‘chromosome’ and does not have histone proteins associated with it
  3. Smaller circular molecules of DNA called plasmids are often present
  4. No membrane bound organelles (e.g. such as mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi body, chloroplasts) are present
  5. Ribosomes (70S) are smaller than in eukaryotic cells
  6. Cell wall is always present and contains peptidoglycan (not cellulose)
  7. Cells divide by binary fission, not by mitosis
  8. Usually exist as single cells or small groups of cells
72
Q

What are the characteristic features of domain archaeans? (7)

A
  1. Cells with no membrane bound organelles
  2. DNA exists as a circular ‘chromosome’ and does have histone proteins associated with it
  3. Smaller circular molecules of DNA called plasmids are often present
  4. Ribosomes (70S) are smaller than in eukaryotic cells, but they have features that are similar to those in eukaryotic ribosomes, not to bacterial ribosomes
  5. Cell wall always present, but does not contain peptidoglycan
  6. Cells divide by binary fission, not by mitosis
  7. Usually exist as single cells or small groups of cells
73
Q

What are the characteristic features of domain eukarya? (7)

A
  • All the organisms classified into this domain have cells with nuclei and membrane bound organelles
    1. Cells with a nucleus and membrane bound organelles
    2. DNA in the nucleus arranged as linear chromosomes with histone proteins
    3. Ribosomes (80S) in the cytosol are larger than in prokaryotes; chloroplasts and mitochondria have 70S ribosomes, like those in prokaryotes
    4. Chloroplasts and mitochondrial DNA is circular as in prokaryotes
    5. A great diversity of forms; there are unicellular, colonial and multicellular organisms
    6. Cell division is by mitosis
    7. Many different ways of reproducing - asexually and sexually
74
Q

What is a protoctista?

A

-

  • It is made up of a very diverse range of eukaryotic organisms which includes those that are often called protozoans and algae such as seaweeds
  • Any eukaryote that is not a fungus, plant or animal is classified as a protctists
  • Many organisms in this kingdom may actually be more closely related to organisms in other kingdoms that they are to each other
75
Q

What is Protoctista?

A
  • One of the five kindgdoms; eukaryotic organisms which are single celled, or made up of groups of similar cells
  • It is made up of a very diverse range of eukaryotic organisms which includes those that are often called protozoans and algae such as seaweeds
  • Any eukaryote that is not a fungus, plant or animal is classified as a protctists
  • A protoctist is a member of the Protoctista kingdom
  • Many organisms in this kingdom may actually be more closely related to organisms in other kingdoms that they are to each other
76
Q

What are the characteristic features of the kingdom protoctista? (4)

A
  1. Eukaryotic
  2. Mostly single-celled or exists as groups of similar cells
  3. Some have animal like cells (no cell wall) an d are sometimes known as protozoa
  4. Other have plant-like cells (with cellulose cell walls and chloroplasts) and are sometimes known as algae
77
Q

What are the characteristic features of kingdom fungi?

A
  1. Eukaryotic
  2. Do not have chlorophyll and do not photosynthesise
  3. Heterotrophic nutrition - they use organic compound made by other organisms as their source of energy and source of molecules for metabolism
  4. Reproduce by means of spores
  5. Simple body form which may be unicellular or made up of long threads called hyphae (with or without cross walls); large fungi such as mushrooms produce large compacted masses of hyphae known as ‘fruiting bodies’ to release spores
  6. Cells have cell walls made of chitin or other substances, not cellulose
  7. Never have cilia or flagella
    - Vast range in size, microscopic to large
78
Q

What are hyphae?

A

A long threadlike structure surrounded by a cell surface membrane and cell wall that makes up part of the body of a fungus; hyphae may or may not have cross walls

79
Q

What are the characteristic features of the kingdom plantae? (7)

A
  1. Multicellular eukaryotes with cells that are differentiated to form tissue and organs
  2. Few types of specialised cells
  3. Some cells have chloroplasts and photosynthesise
  4. Cells have large, often permenant vacuoles for support
  5. Autotrophic nutrition
  6. Cell walls are always present and are made of cellulose
  7. Cells may occasionally have flagella e.g. male gametes in ferns
80
Q

What are fungi?

A

One of the four kingdoms of the domain Eukarya; eukaryotic organisms which do not photosynthesise and have cell walls but without cellulose

81
Q

What are plantae

A
  • One of the four kingdoms of the domain Eukarya; eukaryotic organisms which are multicellular, have cell walls that contain cellulose and can photosynthesise
  • All multicellular photosynthetic organisms
  • Have complex bodies that are often highly branched both above and below ground
82
Q

What are animilia?

A
  • One of the four kingdoms of the domain Eukarya; eukaryotic organisms which are multicellular and heterotrophic and have a nervous system
  • Multicellular organisms that are all heterotrophic with many ways of obtaining their food
  • Great diversity of forms within his kingdom
  • Nervous susten is unique to the animal kingdom
83
Q

Why are viruses not included in the three domain classification?

A
  1. Viruses have none of the features that we traditionally use for classification
  2. Should be considered living? have particles made of proteins and nucleic acids that a re found in all cellular organisms
  3. When they are free in the environment they are infectious but have no metabolism
  4. When they infect cells they make use of the biochemical machinery int he host cell to copy their nucleic acids and to make the proteins, often leading to restriction of the host cells
  5. The energy for these processes is provided by respiration in the host cell
84
Q

How are viruses classified?

A
  1. Type of nucleic acid (RNA or DNA)
  2. Whether these are single stranded or double stranded
  3. (Type of disease they cause)
    - In cellular organisms DNA is double stranded and RNA is single stranded but in viruses both can be either single stranded or double stranded
85
Q

What are viruses?

A
  • Only visible with electron microscopes

- Acellular (do not contain a cellular structure like bacteria and fungi

86
Q

What are the threats to biodiversity of terrestrial ecosystems?

A
  1. Habitat loss and the degradation of the environment (clearing of land for agriculture, housing, transport + lead to habitat fragmentation and most at risk of extinct is endemic species on small islands), deforestation - overpopulation
  2. Climate change - build up of GHGs
  3. Excessive use of fertilisers and industrial and domestic forms of pollution
  4. The overexploitation and unsustainable use of resources (removal by logging companies of valuable trees faster than regenerated)
  5. The effects of invasive alien species on native species, especially endemics
87
Q

What are the threats to biodiversity of aquatic ecosystems?

A
  1. Overfishing (overexploitation of resources)
    - Food chains disrupted
  2. Pollution such as sewage untreated before enter rivers and seas contain substances that cannot be metabolised by organisms e.g. PCBs and non-biodegradable plastic
  3. Leaching of fertilisers into water
  4. Air pollution - acid rain
  5. Corals sensitive to temperature increase + coral bleaching
  6. Coastal ecosystems affected by rising sea levels
  7. Increase in natural catastrophes so increase conc of nutrients in coastal waters
88
Q

Why is it important to maintain biodiversity?

A
  1. Moral and ethical reasons (no right to drive to extinction)
  2. Ecological reasons: use ecosystems for drugs and antibiotics and loose species of use of extinct
  3. Aesthetic reasons: pleasure, inspiration, photography and ecotourism
  4. Social and Commercial reasons: need wild relatives of crop plants incase of threat, interbred
  5. Other: forest + peat bogs absorb CO2, organic waste added to to water is broken down by micro-organisms, recyingling of nutrients e.g. nitrogen and water cycle for plant growth and drinking water
89
Q

How do national parks work?

A

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Z A level Biology (15 decks)

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