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Biology > Biological Diversity > Flashcards

Biological Diversity Flashcards

Module 3

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1
Q

Distinguish between ‘ecosystem’ and ‘environment’

A
  • Environment is made up of all abiotic factors
  • Ecosystem is a combination of all biotic and abiotic factors including environment
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2
Q

List and briefly describe the main differences between aquatic and terrestrial environment.

A
  • Medium: Aquatic is surrounded by water, Terrestrial is surrounded by air
  • Oxygen availability: Aquatic, dissolve in water and less concentration than in Terrestrial
  • Light penetration: will reduce in-depth water, light is abundant in the air.
  • Terrestrial environments affect animals/ organisms found on land
  • Aquatic environments affect by some abiotic factors such as salinity, light availability, pressure and actually fit hose organisms living in ocean.
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3
Q

Outline structural and behavioural features that have enabled cane toads to thrive in the Australian environment.

A
  • They feed mainly at night
  • They are ground dwellers
  • They eat insects, snails, variety type of opportunistic foods such as pet food, and actually something fits their mouth size, including birds, frogs, small mammals and small reptiles
  • They absorb water through their skin
  • They have no known predators
  • They can breed all year round
  • Female can lay up to 30000 eggs at a time; these can hatch in 2-3 days
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4
Q

Where does Cane Toads’ toxins come from?

A
  • Glands on the toad’s shoulder produce bufotoxin
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5
Q

Disease cause by bufotoxin of cane toads.

A
  • Rapid heartbeat
  • Hyperventilation
  • Convulsion (co giật)
  • Paralysis
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6
Q

Describe the change in selection pressure on prickly pear that halted its spread throughout Australia

A
  • Since their rapid spread in Australia (covers 4 hectares in 1900 and 24 hectares in 1920) -> It then become a pest
  • Their selection pressures are two species of insects - the cochineal beetle and cactoblastic moth - were imported into Australia.
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7
Q

Why and when were cane toads introduced to Australia?

A
  • Introduced in 1935 to control the greyback cane beetle in sugar cane population
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8
Q

What is ecosystem stability?

A
  • It refers to its apparently unchanging nature over time.
  • Ecosystem stability has various components, including inertia (the ability to resist disturbance) and resilience (ability to recover from external disturbances)
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9
Q

What is keystone species in an ecosystem.

A
  • Keystone species have a disproportionate effect on ecosystem function due to their pivotal (then chốt) role in some ecosystem function such as nutrient recycling or production of plant biomass
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10
Q

Give one probable reason why high biodiversity provides greater ecosystem stability.

A
  • There are the large number of biotic interactions which offer to buffer diverse systems against changing conditions.
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11
Q

Define structural adaptation.

A
  • Structural adaptation is how the organism is built to increase their chances of survival
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12
Q

Define physiological adaptation

A
  • Physiological adaptations are those related to how organisms function that increase their chances of survival
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13
Q

Define behavioural adaptation

A
  • Behavioural adaptations refer those actions performed by an organism in response to a stimulus that improves its chance of survival.
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14
Q

Five main tenets of Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection

A
  1. Variations exist within population
  2. More offpsring are produced than can survive
  3. Those offspring that are better adapted to their environment will survive and reproduce
  4. The favourable adaptations are passed on to the next generation
  5. Over time, the favourable adaptations will increase in the population (as long as the environment does not change)
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15
Q

Outline the theory that Darwin considered could explain the diversity of life on Earth when he started his journey on the HMS Beagle

A

“All species living on the Earth had been created independently”

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16
Q

Define evolution

A
  • Evolution is the change in a population over time (long period of time)
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17
Q

Distinguish between biological evolution and cultural evolution

A
  • Biological evolution refers to the change in genetic makeup of populations over generations, leading to the development of new species and adaptation of organism to their environment.
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18
Q

Biological relationship between organisms

A
  • Competitions for resources
  • Predator-Prey
  • Symbiosis refers to a relationship where organisms of two different species live together in direct contact (mutualism, commensalism, parasitism.
  • Natural selection has led to the development of many symbiotic relationships.
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19
Q
  • Epiphytes are plants that grow attached to one another using it for position and support and do not obtain nutrients or water directly from the host in a commensal relationship.
A
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20
Q
  • Endoparasites live within the host (e.g. tapeworms)
  • Ectoparasites feed on the surface of the host (e.g. lice, aphids)
  • Many endoparasites have complex life cycles to enable them to transfer from host to host
A
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21
Q

Which steps does natural selection depend on?

A
  • Variability: all populations have random differences or variations among their members
  • Inheritability: variation may be inherited
  • Over-population: organisms produce more offspring than the environment can support.
  • Competition between organisms and survival of the fittest
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22
Q

Define allopatric and sympatric species.

A
  • Allopatric Species: species that are geographically isolated
  • Sympatric Species: closely species whose distribution overlaps
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23
Q

Define biodiversity

A
  • Biodiversity refers to the variety of all forms of life on Earth, also refers to the amount of variation within a group.
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24
Q

Define genetic diversity

A
  • Genetic diversity refers to the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic make-up of a species (genotypes)
  • Genetic diversity is the raw material of evolution
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25
Q

Define mutation

A
  • Mutation is the permanent change in genetic information.
  • Mutations can be small, localised changes (gene mutation) or large scale alternations (chromosome mutation)
  • If the mutation occurs in a reproductive organ or during meiosis and the formation of gamete then the offspring will have the alternated genetic information (germ cell mutation)
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26
Q

Define fertilisation

A
  • The union of two gametes (sperms from male and eggs from female)
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27
Q

Measurement of genetic diversity?

A
  • Can be measured by the heterozygosity for both the amount of gene variability and the amount of nucleotide variability.
28
Q

The genetic diversity of a population is likely to remain constant if :

A
  • The population is large
  • No mutation or rate of mutation of a specific allele is equal to the reverse mutation
  • No selective mating and all reproduction is purely random
  • No migration of individuals in or out of the population
28
Q

Define “random segregation”

A
  • It is the separation and random combination of chromosomes during meiosis when homologous pairs of chromosomes are distributed to form gametes.
  • Gametes will have one copy of each homologous chromosome but different combinations lead to variation.
29
Q

Define “Crossing over”

A
  • Occurs during meiosis
  • During the early stages when the homologous pairs of chromosomes are paired together, sections of non-sister chromatids are swapped.
    => New combinations of characteristics and variation.
30
Q

If the conditions of the existence of constant gene frequencies are not met then there will be genetic drift and the gene pool will change.

A

Information

30
Q

Define “species diversity”

A
  • It refers to the variety of species in an area. It can be measured by counting the number of different species (species richness) in an area
  • Species diversity can be related to the number of possible ecological niches available in the area.
  • A complex community provides the possibility of more niches than the simple community.
  • Species can migrate into the complex community to fill these potential niches and also make the complex community even more complex.
30
Q

Relation between species diversity and geographical isolation of a habitat.

A
  • Species diversity can be inversely compared to the geological isolation of habitat - the more isolated the community, the lower its species diversity.
31
Q

Define “ecosystem diversity”

A
  • Ecosystem diversity refers to the variety of ecosystems on Earth.
  • Ecosystem diversity also considers the range of communities in each area, the range of habitats and ecological processes that occur within each ecosystem.
32
Q

What is ecosystem?

A
  • An ecosystem is the interaction of living things with their environment and with other living things in an area functioning together to produce an ecological unit.
  • Ecosystems tend to be smaller than biomes
  • Ecosystems are composed of different habitats and can be described in terms of the species present and abiotic factors that make up the environment
  • A habitat is the environmental place where organism, population, species live.
  • The boundaries of many communities are fluid as species move to find food, shelter, mating or escape from the predator => Ecosystem diversity is harder to define than either species or genetic diversity.
33
Q

Define biome

A
  • Biomes are regions with similar climates and vegetation, encompassing multiple ecosystems.
34
Q

Define microevolution

A
  • Microevolution change involves small-scale changes within a population, which is a group of organisms that share the same gene pool and can interbreed (below the “Species” level)
  • The changes in the genetic composition of a population.
  • The mechanisms that can cause the change in genetic composition can be mutation, natural selection, genetic drift.
35
Q

What is genetic drift?

A
  • Genetic drift is the change in the frequency of an existing gene variant (allele) in a population owing to the chance disappearance of the allele as individuals die or do not reproduce.
36
Q

Example of microevolution

A
  • Modern horse (from Small horse of the Eocene -> modern horse today)
36
Q

What is gene flow?

A
  • Gene flow is the transfer of alleles from one population of a species to another population of the same species.
36
Q

Platypus classification

A
  • Species: anatinus
  • Genus: Ornithorhynchus
  • Family: Ornithorhynchidae
  • Order: Monotremata
  • Class: Mammalia
  • Phylum: Chordata
  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Domain: Eukaryote
37
Q

Example of macroevolution

A
  • Platypus, whales
38
Q

Define macroevolution

A
  • Macroevolutionary change refers to the evolution of groups larger than species.
  • Macroevolution involves evolutionary change above the “Species” level including the appearance of major evolutionary developments.
  • Macroevolution occurs as a result of the accumulating of microevolutionary changes over time.
39
Q

Classify level of living organisms

A

Species -> Genus -> Family -> Order -> Class -> Phylus -> Kingdom -> Domain

40
Q

Define “divergent evolution”

A
  • Divergent evolution occurs when different groups arise from a common ancestor due to adaptive radiation. This leads to organisms looking different to each other
  • In closely related organisms, the basic similarities between organisms could be as a result of their relatively recent divergence from a common ancestor
41
Q

Example of divergent evolution

A
  • Finches in Galapagos Island
  • Wolves and domestic dogs
42
Q

Define “convergent evolution”

A
  • In distantly related organisms which have moved into similar environments and been exposed to similar selective pressures evolve to become similar - convergent evolution
  • Convergent evolution leads to the superficial similarities due to organisms living in the same habitat or having the same lifestyle although they are not related.
43
Q

Examples of convergent evolution

A
  • Dolphin (mammal) and shark (fish)
  • Mole (Placental mammals) and Marsupial mole (Australian marsupials)
  • Mouse and Dunnart (AUS marsupials)
44
Q

Define “Punctuated Equilibrium”

A
  • Punctuated equilibrium suggests that evolution occurs in short bursts of rapid change, followed by long periods of stability within populations.
45
Q

Define “Gradualism”

A
  • Gradualism suggests that population slowly diverge by accumulating changes in characteristics due to different selection pressures
  • This pattern of evolutionary change suggests that transitional forms should exist
46
Q

Example of punctuated equilibrium

A
  • Soft-bodied organisms dominated the seas for hundreds of million years and then, in a period of a few million years, they disappeared and were replaced by organisms with shells and skeletons.
47
Q

Example of Gradualism Evolution

A
  • Evolution of horse
48
Q

How many types of evidence for Evolution

A

4 - Fossil, Anatomical, Embryological, Biochemical

49
Q

The process of punctuated equilibrium works as follows:

A
  • A population is living in stasis - there is no change in its environment and little change is observed in the fossil record
  • Part of the population is isolated by a change in the environment (e.g. tectonic activity or sea level change)
  • The small size of the population experiences strong selection pressure from the sudden change in conditions
  • Due to the small size of population, there is no fossils representing any transitional forms
  • If the environmental conditions change and populations reunite, there may be competition between the populations
  • A larger population and a stable environment make evolutionary changes less likely
50
Q

What is homologous structures?

A
  • Homologous structures are some structures that look similar but function differently due to different habitats or natural selection they face. These structures can be used to explain the divergent evolution.
51
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51
Q

Define “Comparative embryology”

A
  • It is the comparison of the developmental stages of different species. Similarities can be used to infer relationships between organisms.
51
Q

Define “vestigial structures”

A
  • Vestigial structures are thought to be evolutionary remnants of the body parts that no longer serve a useful function within that population.
  • The presence of vestigial structures provides evidence of common ancestry.
52
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52
Q

Define “analogous structure”

A
  • These structures are thought to have started off being very different and then to have evolved independently to become similar, because they were selected to be used for the similar purpose (e.g. flight) => Convergrant evolution
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Biology (6 decks)

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