Chapter 10: Biodiversity

Question 1

What is meant by the term ‘taxon’?

Answer 1

A taxon is a grouping of organisms which share some basic features

Question 2

What is meant by the term ‘species’?

Answer 2

A species is a group of similar organisms which can interbreed to produce fertile offspring

Question 3

List the taxonomic groups in order.

Answer 3

Domain Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species

Question 4

What is classification?

Answer 4

Classification is the process of sorting a variety of items into manageable groups

Question 5

What is the study of biological classification called?

Answer 5

The study of biological classification is called Taxonomy or Systematics

Question 6

Why is a universally accepted system of classification important?

Answer 6

A universally accepted system of classification

1) allows scientists to communicate about an organism with the confidence that they are referring to the same thing
2) enables rapid access to info about a particular type of organism
3) makes it easier to identify and study organisms

Question 7

What is the aim of classification in biology?

Answer 7

The aim of classification in biology is that it reflects the evolutionary relationships between organisms

Question 8

Which taxon level is usually taken to be the basic taxon of a classification hierarchy?

Answer 8

The species is usually taken to be the basic taxon level/category for a classification hierarchy

Question 9

What is a sub-species?

Answer 9

A sub-species is a further division of a species by the recognition of sufficient, subtle but consistent variation between members of that species

Question 10

What is the evolutionary relationship between organisms called?

Answer 10

The evolutionary relationships between organisms is called phylogeny.

Question 11

What is the bionmial nomenclature system and who invented it?

Answer 11

The binomial nomenclature system is the internationally accepted system of naming species and was developed by Linnaeus in the 18th century

Question 12

Describe Linnaeus’s binomial system.

Answer 12

Each species has two Latin names. The first is the genus and always starts with a capital letter. The second is the particular species within that genus and always starts with a lower-case letter. Names are always written in italics or underlined if they are handwritten.

Question 13

A group of related species form a ________?

Answer 13

A group of related species form a genus

Question 14

What are the five kingdoms?

Answer 14

Prokaryotae Protoctista Fungi Plantae Animalia

Question 15

What are the three domains?

Answer 15

Eukarya Bacteria Archaea

Question 16

Closely related species diverged away from each other most recently. How is this shown on an evolutionary tree?

Answer 16

You can see this because their branches are close together.

Question 17

How many levels of taxa are there?

Answer 17

There are 8 levels of taxa used to classify organisms.

Question 18

Taxons are arranged in a hierarchy. What is meant by a hierarchy?

Answer 18

1) The largest groups are at the top and the smallest groups are at the bottom 2) Organisms can only belong to one group at each level in the hierarchy - there is no overlap

Question 19

What is the plural for taxon?

Answer 19

The plural for taxon is taxa.

Question 20

Brifely describe the structure of the phylogenetic hierarchy.

Answer 20

The phylogenetic hierarchy begins with the three domains. Closely related organisms in each domain are grouped into slightly smaller groups called kingdoms. Closely related organisms in each kingdom are grouped into phyla. Closely ralated organisms in each phyla are grouped into classes and so on…

Question 21

Give one reason why the binominal system is useful.

Answer 21

The binominal system helps to avoid the confusion caused by using common names. For example over 100 species of plant are called raspberries.

Question 22

What is artificial classification?

Answer 22

for later

Question 23

What is natural classifcation?

Answer 23

for later

Question 24

What are homologous characteristics?

Answer 24

for later

Question 25

What are analogous characteristics?

Answer 25

for later

Question 26

Species are placed in the same group based only on…

Answer 26

…shared homologous features and shared evolutionary history.

Question 27

What is courtship behaviour?

Answer 27

Courtship behaviour is behaviour carried out by organisms to attract a mate of the right species

Question 28

Courtship behaviour is species specific. What does this mean?

Answer 28

Only members of the same species will perform the behaviour and only members of the same species will respond to the behaviour

Question 29

Why is courtship behaviour species-specific?

Answer 29

Courtship behaviour is species-specific

1) to allow members of the same species to recognise each other
2) This prevents interbreeding
3) and makes reproduction more successful.

Question 30

Why is it that courtship behaviour can be used to classify animals?

Answer 30

Courtship behaviour can be used to classify animals because it is spceific to each species - the more closely related species are, the more similar their chourtship behaviour.

Question 31

What is meant by the term ‘species diversity’?

Answer 31

Species diversity refers to the number and the abundance of species in a community/area.

Question 32

What is meant by the term ‘biodiversity’?

Answer 32

Biodiversity refers to the variety of living organisms in an area.

Question 33

Biodiversity can be measured using what?

Answer 33

Biodiversity can be measured using an Index of Diversity

Question 34

What is ‘species richness’?

Answer 34

Species richness is a measure of the number of different species in a community

Question 35

The simplest way of measuring diversity is to…

Answer 35

… just count the number of different species.

Question 36

What is a habitat?

Answer 36

A habitat is a place where an organism lives

Question 37

The simplest way of measuring diversity is to…

Answer 37

… just count the number of different species. Take random samples of an area/community and count the number of different species in the samples

Question 38

What is an Index of Diversity?

Answer 38

An Index of Diversity is a way to measure diversity by using an equation that takes the number of different species in a community and the abundance of each species (how many individuals of each species) into account

Question 39

What is the formula for calculating the index of diversity?

Answer 39

d = N(N-1) / Σn(n-1)

where…

N = the total number of organisms of all species

n = the total number of organisms of one species

Σ = sum of

Question 40

The higher the index number…

Answer 40

… the more diverse an area is.

Question 41

What is indicated when the index number is 1?

Answer 41

When the index number is 1, it indicates that there is no biodiversity/all the indiviuals are of the same species

Question 42

What is ‘variation’?

Answer 42

Variation is the differences that exist between individuals. Variation can occur between species and within species.

Question 43

What is variation that occurs between species called?

Answer 43

Variation that occurs between species is called inter-species variation

Question 44

What is variation that occurs within species called?

Answer 44

Variation that occurs within species is called intra-species variation

Question 45

Variation between and within species can be caused by…

Answer 45

• genetic factors such as different genes or different forms of genes/alleles
• environmental factors such as lifestyle, diet, climate etc.
• While most variation within a species is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors