Chapter 2 - Importnace Of Conserving Biodiversity

Question 1

How is biodiversity used for new resources?

Answer 1

1) wood - manufacture of buildings, tools, or furniture
2) fibres - cotton, paper, or silk
3) oils - vegetable oils used in foods, lubricants, and soaps
4) fuels - charcoal, and alcohol
5) food - plants, animals, algae, and fungi

Question 2

What are some example of new food species which have potential for commercial cultivation

Answer 2

1) the potato bean of North America has a high protein content
2) the yeheb tree from Somalia produces edible nuts, is drought resistant, and can grow in poor soils
3)the morama bean from dry areas of Southern Africa has a high protein content similar to soya and is drought resistant

Question 3

What is biomimetics

Answer 3

• involves the use of knowledge of the adaptations of other species, to improve the designs of manufactured items
• these adaptations can help us to design improved engineering structures and equipment

Question 4

How can biomimetics be used in vehicle design ?

Answer 4

• the splayed wingtip feathers of soaring birds reduce wind turbulence and drag.
• copying the feather structures has improved aircraft wing designers to help increase fuel efficiency

Question 5

How can biomimetics be used in infection control?

Answer 5

• bacteria do not stick to shark skin.
• a coating material that imitates shark skin is used in hospital operating theatres to help control bacterial infections

Question 6

How can biomimetics be used in architecture?

Answer 6

-mounds that termites construct above the ground absorb sunlight and become hot
- hot air inside rides creating a convection current.
- this draws stale air out of lower parts of the nest and creates a natural solar-driven ventilation system
-air blowing over the mound has lower air pressure and draws air out of the mound
- this system has been copied into office blocks and shopping complexes to create natural ventilation and cooling without the need for air conditioning

Question 7

How does biomimetics help adhesion?

Answer 7

• the toes of gecko lizards have pads that provide strong adhesion. Attempts are being made to copy this to provide adhesion without the need for glue
• lotus flowers have water repelling properties. This has been copied to produce self cleaning glass

Question 8

How can biomimetics be used with materials?

Answer 8

• some natural materials have properties that can be applied to the manufacture of synthetic materials. The lightweight, flexible, strong silk produced by spiders is being copied to produce better car airbags

Question 9

Why is it important to converse biodiversity for the development of new medicines?

Answer 9

• plants need to protect themselves against herbivores. Some plants release chemicals that are topic to the animals that eat them. In controlled amounts, these chemicals may have beneficial medical effects in humans. For example:
  1) poppies are cultivated to produce painkillers, or morphine
  2) taxol is extracted from yew trees and is used to treat a range of cancers including, breast, lung, and prostate

Question 10

Why is biodiversity conservation important for physiological research?

Answer 10

• studying the way some species evolve to adapt to the environment can give greater understanding of human health problems:
  1) hippopotamus skin secretes hipposudoric acid which is natural sunscreen and anti microbial agent. This is being studies to to help improve the treatment of burns victims
  2) armadillos are one of the few victims that can catch the bacterial desires leprosy. They are used in the study of the disease and in vaccination production

Question 11

Why is conserving biodiversity important for pest control?

Answer 11

• a wide range of predators, herbivores, parasites, and pathogens are used to control agricultural pests. For example:
  1)the populations of natural predators such as ladybirds and ground beetles can be increased by providing suitable habitats such as hedgerows and beetle banks
  2)encarsia Formosa is a parasitic wasp that is released in greenhouse to control whitefly pests on crops such as tomatoes

Question 12

What are crop wild relative species (CWR)

Answer 12

• CWR are wild plant varieties or species that are closely related to domesticated crops. CRWs May contain genetic characteristics that can be used in crop breeding programmes

Question 13

What are some characteristics introduced from CWR species ?

Answer 13

1) disease resistance
- sugar cane has been protected from the sugar cane mosaic virus by cross breeding with a wild sugar cane variety from Indonesia
2) salt tolerance
-sea kale is salt tolerant and has been studied for possible use in breeding programmes with closely related crop species
3) high yield
- oil palm yields have been increased by 25% by cross breeding with wild varieties found in central Africa

Question 14

What are centres of diversity?

Answer 14

• Nikolai vavilov studied crop genetics in the early 1900s
• he realised that some areas of the world had high concentrations of the close relatives of important crop species.
• these were named centres of diversity or vavilov centres. For example
  1) Central American centres- maize, sweet potato
  2) Chinese centre- soya, pear, peach

Question 15

What is a gene pool

Answer 15

• the total number of different genes present in all individuals in a population of a particular species.
• a larger population doesn’t mean large gene pool as they may all be dependents from closely related species

Question 16

Describe the ecosystem service of atmospheric composition

Answer 16

• composition of the atmosphere is regulated by many abiotic and biotic processes which act to cancel each other out, creating a ‘dynamic equilibrium’.
• for example, concentrations of carbon dioxide and oxygen are largely regulated by photosynthesis and aerobic respiration

Question 17

Describe the ecosystem service of the biogeochemical cycles

Answer 17

• living organisms are involved in many of the processes in the biogeochemical cycles.
• many of these are done by microbes such as bacteria and fungi. Without these processes, waste products would build up and important nutrient resources would become depleted

Question 18

Describe the ecosystem service of interspecies relationships

Answer 18

• no species can live in ecological isolation because their survival relies on other species for a range of resources and ecological services

Question 19

Describe the ecosystem services of pollination

Answer 19

• pollination of flowers by insects allows plants to have dispersed populations as the insects search over long distances for the flowers.
• pollination by animals are important in forests where trees reduce wind velocity so wind pollination isn’t effective
• many plants have evolved flowers that attract particular insects and many insects have evolved to be able to feed from the flowers of particular species

Question 20

Describe the ecosystem service of seed dispersal

Answer 20

• seed dispersal by animals has many advantages over seed dispersal by wind because the seeds may be carried longer distances
• since the animals live in the same habitats as the plant, they carry it to locations where the seeds can survive
  -seeds may be dropped by the animal or the seeds may pass through the animals guts and be carried to a suitable habitat in faecal material which acts as a fertiliser

Question 21

Describe the ecosystem service of habitat provision

Answer 21

• trees provide nest sites for birds
• trees control the abiotic conditions beneath the canopy, such as light levels,humidity or temperature