Diversity, Classification and Variation- Biodiversity Flashcards
What is biodiversity?
The variety of living organisms in an area
What is a habitat?
The place where an organism lives
What is a community?
All the populations of different species in a habitat
What is local biodiversity?
The variety of different species living in a small habitat that’s local to you
What is global biodiversity?
The variety of species on Earth
What is species richness?
A measure of the number of different species in a community
What is an index of diversity?
Another way of measuring biodiversity calculated using an equation with species richness and population sizes
How do you calculate index of diversity?
d= N(N-1)/ sum of n(n-1) N= total number of organisms of all species n= total number of organisms of one species
How can you tell how diverse an area is from index of diversity?
The higher the number, the more diverse an area is
What is the effect of woodland clearance?
Increase the area of farmland so it directly reduces the number of trees and sometimes the number of different tree species, also destroys habitats, so means species will die and reduces biodiversity
What is the effect of hedgerow removal?
Increase the area of farmland by turning lots of small fields into fewer large fields, reduces biodiversity
What is the effect of pesticides?
Reduces diversity by directly killing pests, any species that feed on pests will lose a food source
What is the effect of herbicides?
Reduces plant diversity and could reduce number of organisms that feed on these plants
What is the effect of monoculture?
When farmers have fields containing only one type of plant which reduces diversity and it will support fewer organisms which further reduces biodiversity
What are some examples of conservation schemes?
- Giving legal protection to endangered species
- Creating protected areas (SSSIs) which restrict further development
- Environmental Stewardship Scheme to encourage farmers to conserve biodiversity