Final Exam Review Flashcards
What was the 1992 Rio Earth Summit?
Conference with over 100 countries participating on Environment and Development
What is Agenda 21?
The product of the Rio Earth Summit, it’s a document which outlines the international plan of action for sustainable development and key policies for environment and sustainability
- Became the blueprint for sustainability and forms the basis
for sustainable development strategies
UN Definition of “Biodiversity”
“the variability among living organisms from all sources, including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine, and other aquatic ecosystems, and the ecological complexes of which they are part: this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems” (UN 1992)
when did the word “Biodiversity” first appear?
First published appearance in 1988 by E.O Wilson as a contraction of “biological” and “diversity”
Is there a single definition of Biodiversity?
No, there are actually more than 25 definitions
- “the totality of genes, species, and ecosystems in a region or the world”
- “functional diversity ‐ thevariety of different responses to environmental change, especially the diverse space and time scales with which organisms react to each other and the environment”
Basic definition of Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the variety of life in all its manifestations
Examples of biodiversity
Species diversity, genetic diversity, molecular diversity, ecological diversity, etc.
How many species are there on earth?
We don’t really know, estimates are around 10-100 million
Can we make accurate predictions of the number of species?
Mora et al. (2011) showed how higher taxonomic classification of species follows a consistent and predictable pattern from which the total number of species in a taxonomic group
can be estimated
- Linear increasing line
Have most species been discovered already?
No, most species actually have not been discovered. The majority of them being insects (most) and bacteria
What is the correlation of description date with species geographic region (carnivores and primates)?
Date of description vs geographic range is correlated in that species with a very large geographic range were described earliest, and rarer/smaller geographic range species have only been described more recently.
What are the distinctive attributes of ‘newly discovered’ species?
- geographically restricted
- small body size
- live in difficult to access locations
- small population size
- high risk of extinction
- hard to distinguish morphologically
- nocturnal
- Symbiont with another organism we already know of
- probably an insect or beetle
Global species richness is difficult to measure, how could you estimate species richness?
Chao et al., 2011 - The simplest non-parametric estimator of true species richness in a community (= asymptote of species accumulation curve)
S(est) = S(obs) + a^2/2b
what is a species abundance distribution (SAD)?
A species abundance distribution graphs the number of species (y axis) by the number of individuals represented in sample (x axis)
what is a rank abundance distribution?
A rank abundance distribution graphs the abundance of individuals (y axis) by the species rank (usually from most abundant to least) on the x axis.
(usually looks like a decreasing exponential graph)
what is the advantage of modelling species richness as a log series?
species richness (S) can be estimated simply as
S = alpha*ln(1+N/alpha)
where N = number of individuals sampled
alpha = Fischer’s alpha (calculated from ur data set)
what is Fischer’s alpha?
Fixed values calculated for the number of species (S) and number of individuals minus number of species (N-S) in a sample
what is Preston’s log-normal distribution of species abundance?
- If you sampled all the species in an area, they would graph a log-normal distribution on # of species (y axis) by log abundance (x axis).
- however, it requires extensive sampling before the log‐normal distribution becomes evident or accurate
what is Preston’s Veil Line?
There are always a few rare species that are missed in sampling, so you must do extensive sampling to remove this veil on the very rare species to achieve more accurate richness
what is alpha in Preston’s log-normal distribution?
‘a’ represents the equitability of species and is typically ≈ 0.2
what are Whittaker’s spatial levels of diversity?
An hierarchical structure composed of alpha diversity, beta diversity, and gamma diversity
what is Alpha Diversity?
Local diversity within a community
what is Beta Diversity?
Diversity between communities
- When you have two communities, there may be some overlap in the species present in both. Beta diversity would be the remaining species that are NOT in both samples (species which are not overlapping)
what is Gamma Diversity?
Total diversity within a region (basically result of combining alpha and beta diversity)