COMPONENTS OF BIODIVERSITY U3

Question 1

The three components of biodiversity are

Answer 1

Genetic diversity
Species diversity
Ecosystem diversity

Question 2

Genetic diversity

Answer 2

Genetic diversity is the number and frequency of all of the alleles within a population.

If one population of a species dies out, then the species may have lost some of its genetic diversity, and this may limit its ability to adapt to changing conditions.

Question 3

Species diversity

Answer 3

Comprises the number of different species in an ecosystem (the species richness) and the proportion of each species in the ecosystem (the relative abundance).

A community with a dominant species has a lower species diversity than one with the same species richness but no particularly dominant species.

Question 4

Ecosystem diversity

Answer 4

Refers to the number of distinct ecosystems within a defined area.