Biodiversity within a community Flashcards

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1
Q

What is meant by biodiversity?

A

Biodiversity can be thought of as a study of all the variation that exists within and between all forms of life

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2
Q

How can biodiversity be assessed on different scales?

A
  • The number and range of different ecosystems and habitats on the entire planet
  • The number of species and their relative abundance within a small, local habitat (like a pond)
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3
Q

Why is biodiversity important?

A

Biodiversity if very important for the resilience of ecosystems, in that it allows them to resist changes in the environment

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4
Q

What is meant by ecosystem/habitat diversity?

A

The range of different ecosystems or habitats within a particular area or region

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5
Q

What is meant by an area of high biodiversity?

A
  • A large number of different habitats within an area (high biodiversity)
  • E.g. coral reef complex with lots of microhabitats and niches to be exploited
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6
Q

What is meant by an area of low biodiversity?

A
  • Only one or two different habitats (low biodiversity)

- E.g. large sandy deserts conditions are the same throughout the whole area

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7
Q

What is meant by species diversity?

A

Mix of different species that exist within a particular area or region can be measured to indicate levels of biodiversity

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8
Q

How can species diversity be measured?

A
  • Species richness

- Species diversity

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9
Q

What is meant by species richness?

A
  • Number of species within a community

- E.g. tropical rain forest high number species richness

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10
Q

What is meant by species diversity?

A
  • High species diversity are usually more stable than those with lower species diversity as they are more resilient to environmental changes
  • E.g. pine forests of Florida the ecosystem is dominated by one or two tree species
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11
Q

Why is maintaining biodiversity important?

A

Biodiversity impacts all organisms (including humans) on a global scale

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12
Q

What are three reasons for maintaining biodiversity?

A
  • Moral and ethical, humans have a responsibility to reduce their impact on the planet and other species
  • Agricultural, genetically diverse wild species can rescue crops from catastrophes
  • Economic, a range of organisms contribute to medicine, ecotourism, science and technology
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