Biodiversity Within a Community

Question 1

Biodiversity can be thought of as the

Answer 1

is a measure of the variety of living organisms within a particular habitat, ecosystem, biome, or all over Earth.

Question 2

biodiversity can be measured on 2 scales

Answer 2

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)

Question 3

Why is biodiversity important for the ecosystem

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Ecosystem or habitat diversity
This is the range of different ecosystems or habitats within a particular area or region

If there is a large number of different habitats within an area, then that area has

Answer 4

high biodiversity

A good example of this is a coral reef. They are very complex with lots of microhabitats and niches to be exploited

If there is only one or two different habitats then an area has low biodiversity
Large sandy deserts typically have very low biodiversity as the conditions are basically the same throughout the whole area

Question 5

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

It can be measured in different ways: species richness and species diversity

Species richness is the number

Answer 5

of species within a community
An ecosystem such as a tropical rain forest that has a very high number of different species would be described as species-rich

Question 6

Species diversity looks at the

Answer 6

number of different species in a community, and also the evenness of abundance across the different species present

The greater the number of species in an ecosystem, and the more evenly distributed the number of organisms is among each species, then the greater the species diversity

For example, an ecosystem can have a large number of different species but for some species, there may only be 3 or 4 individuals. As a result, this ecosystem does not necessarily have high species diversity

Question 7

Ecosystems with high species diversity are usually more stable than those with lower species diversity as they are

Answer 7

more resilient to environmental changes

Question 8

Maintaining biodiversity
There are many different reasons why maintaining biodiversity is beneficial
Biodiversity impacts all organisms (including humans) on a global scale

why for all these reasons

aesthetic
economic
moral and ethical
ecological
environmental
agricultural

Answer 8

humans take pleasure form visual effects of biodiversity

a range of organisms contribute to medicine , ecotourism and tech

humans have a responsibility to reduce there impact on other species

Biodiversity increases stability of ecosystems

Organisms provide essential process water and carbon

agricultural provide food