C Conservation of Biodiversity

Question 1

what is an indicator species?

Answer 1

this is an organism that can only survive when specific environmental conditions are present (e.g. clean air or polluted air)

therefore the absence or presence of this species in an area is a good indicator is a good indicator of these environmental conditions

e.g. fruticose lichens are pollution intolerant so if they are present in an area that is a good indicator that the air is clean / unpolluted

Question 2

what is a biotic index

Answer 2

this is a number that can be calculated to put a numerical vlaue on how clean/unpolluted/healthy the air/water is in an area

is is calculated using the frequency of each indicator species present in the area and the pollution tolerance factor of each of those species

this is how good a species is at handling pollution - 10 can handle clean only - 1 can handle very pollution

the lower the pollution tolerance factor the better the species is at handling pollution

Question 3

how to calculate biotic index

Answer 3

you can then use the biotic index to say how clean or polluted an area is

• teh higher the index the cleaner the area

Question 4

what is conservation and what are the two types

Answer 4

conservation is the preservation and management of a group of organisms and their environment to increase the organisms chance of survival and reproduction

in situ - the endangered species remains within their natural habitat

ex situ - the removal of the endangered species ffrom their habitat (usually in addition to in situ)

Question 5

what are the advantages and examples of in situ conservation

Answer 5

• more aspeccts of organisms niche are maintained such as other organisms and the environmental factors

terristrial, aquatic, marine, nature reserve

examples

• Controlled grazing

Removal of shrubs and trees

Removal of alien plant species and culling invasive animals

Reintroduction of species that have become locally extinct

Re-wetting of wetlands

Limiting predators

Controlling poaching/hunting

Feeding the animals

Controlling access

Question 6

what are the advantages and examples of ex situ conservation

Answer 6

• plant species are removed and grown in botanical gardens
• seed in a seed bank
• captive breeding of animals

Question 7

waht are the two components of biodiversity and what do they refer to

Answer 7

richness - the number of different species

eveness - how close the number of the different species are

Question 8

what is the simpsons biodiversity index? formula and what does it take into account

Answer 8

• richness and eveness to show biodiversity

a higher index is more diverse and the lowest possible is 1

Question 9

what factors affect how effective a nature reserve is and why

Answer 9

1. area. of the nature reserve - larger area means higher population of certain species that can be supported so less likely to all die by a random event e.g. an earthquake (small islands are baD)
2. connectivity of the nature reserve - connected by corridors makes the nature reserves more effective as organisms can access more resources
3. the shape of the reserve - you want a large volume and a small amount of perimeter as the edge of the reserve has a different ecology (so oval is worse than round)