Biodiversity Module 4

Question 1

What’s biodiversity?

Answer 1

The variety of living organisms in an area

Question 2

What’s a species?

Answer 2

A group of similar organisms that are able to reproduce to give fertile offspring

Question 3

What’s a habitat?

Answer 3

The area inhabited by a species, it includes physical factors and biotic factors

Question 4

What’s habitat diversity?

Answer 4

The number of different habitats in an area

Question 5

What’s species diversity?

Answer 5

The number of different species (species richness), and the abundance of each species (species evenness) in an area)

Question 6

What’s genetic diversity?

Answer 6

The variation of alleles within a species

Question 7

Generic formula for samipling to measure biodiversity?

Answer 7

Choose an area to study

Count the number of individuals of each species

Repeat

Use the result to estimate the total number of individuals, or the total number of species

Question 8

What sampling technique would you use for plants, fly insects, ground insects, aquatic animals?

Answer 8

Plants = quadrats
Flying insects = sweep net
Ground insects = pitfall trap
Aquatic animals = net

Question 9

How can you make your sample random?

Answer 9

Choose where to sample within the area, by dividing the area into a grid and using a random number generator to choose the coordinates

Question 10

What are the 3 types of non-random sample?

Answer 10

Systematic
Opportunistic
Stratified

Question 11

Describe systematic sampling?

Answer 11

When samples are taken at fixed intervals along a transect (line)

Question 12

Describe opportunistic sampling?

Answer 12

When the samples are chosen by the investigator

Question 13

Describe stratified sampling?

Answer 13

When different areas in a habitat are identified and sampled separately in proportion to their part of the habitat as a whole

Question 14

The greater the species richness and species evenness, in an area, the higher the?

Answer 14

Biodiversity

Question 15

What’s species richness?

Answer 15

The number of different species in an area

Question 16

What’s species evenness?

Answer 16

A measure of the relative abundance of each species in an area, the more similar the population size of each species, the greater the species eveness

Question 17

Formula for Biodiversity?

Answer 17

D = 1 - (Sum of all the different species (Total number of individuals of that species/total number of organisms of all species)^2)

So will be adding up a value from each species

Question 18

What range of values can the biodiversity be and what does this mean in terms of species richness and eveness?

Answer 18

Will be a value between 0 and 1, the closer to 1 the value is the more biodiverse it is, and therefore has higher species richness and eveness

Question 19

What can low genetic diversity mean for a species?

Answer 19

The might not be able to adapt to a change in the environment, causing the whole population to be wiped out by a single event

Question 20

Which type of populations may have low genetic diversity?

Answer 20

Isolated populations eg. animals in captivity

Question 21

What are alleles?

Answer 21

Different versions of genes

Question 22

Where are alleles of the same gene found?

Answer 22

At the same point (locus), on a chromosome

Question 23

What does polymorphism describe?

Answer 23

A locus that has 2 or more alleles

Question 24

Formula for giving a measure of genetic diversity?

Answer 24

Proportion of polymorphic gene loci = (Number of polymorphic gene loci / total number of loci) x 100 for a %

So you get the percentage of genes in the sample that have alleles

Question 25

4 ways human population growth is reducing biodiversity?

Answer 25

Habitat loss
Over exploitation of resources
Urbanisation
Pollution

Question 26

3 ways how the increased use of monoculture in agriculture is decreasing biodiversity?

Answer 26

Habitats are lost as land is cleared for farming
Local and naturally occurring plants and animals are seen as weeds and pests and so are killed
Very few types of crops are planted

Question 27

How does climate change affect biodiversity?

Answer 27

Change in climate may mean a previous inhabitable area becomes habitable, or vice versa, so could increase or decrease the biodiversity

Can cause migration so biodiversity decreases in the place they leave, and increases in the place they migrate to

There may be nowhere for a species to migrate to, can cause extinction, decrease in biodiversity

Question 28

What’s a keystone species, and why do we need to protect them and other species for biodiversity?

Answer 28

Keystone species, are species that the ecosystem depends on, and without them the ecyosystem would change dramatically (predators, modifiers, hosts)

Disruption of food chains, or nutrient cycles

Need to protect other species to maintain genetic resources, eg. new medicines

Question 29

Why does continuous monoculture cause soil depletion?

Answer 29

Monoculture = growing a single variety of a single crop

So continuous monoculture invloves planting the same crop over and over again, so all the nutrients required for that plant are used up

Question 30

Apart from ecological and economic reasons, why else should we maintain biodiversity?

Answer 30

Aesthetic reasons

Question 31

What’s in situ conservation?

Answer 31

On site conservation, so protecting species in their natural habitat

Question 32

Advantages and disadvantages of in situ conservation?

Answer 32

Both the species and the habitat is conserved
Larger populations can be protected, and and it’s less disruptive than Ex situ

Can be difficult to control some of the factors that are threatening a species

Question 33

What is ex situ conservation?

Answer 33

Off site conservation, involves protecting a species, by removing part of the population from a threatened habitat and placing it in a new location

Question 34

Advantages and disadvantages of ex situ conservation?

Answer 34

Can protect individual animals in a controlled environment, can be used to reintroduce species

Only a small amount of individuals can be cared for, expensive to recreate habitat, many species can’t breed in the conditions

Question 35

What does the Rio convention on biological diversity aim to do?

Answer 35

Develop international strategies on the conservation of biodiversity, and how to use animal and plant resources in a sustainable way

Made it international law that conserving bio diversity is everyone’s responsibility

Provides guidance to governments on how to conserve biodiversity

Question 36

What are the aims of the CITES (convention on international trade in endangered species?

Answer 36

Regulates international trade on wild animals

Made it illegal to kill endangered animals

Helps to conserve species by limiting trade through licensing, and making it illegal to trade in products from endangered animals

Raises awareness of threats to biodiversity through education

Question 37

What does the countryside stewardship scheme aim to do?

Answer 37

Conserve wild life and biodiversity by improving habitats

Would pay landowners to follow their management techniques on how to manage land in the best way for habitats