Genetic information, variation and relationships between organisms- Biodiversity

Question 1

What is Biodiversity?

Answer 1

 variety in an ecosystem

 variety of habitats and variety of species

Question 2

What is Species Diversity?

Answer 2

 number of different species

 number of individuals for each species

Question 3

What is Genetic Diversity?

Answer 3

 variety of alleles in a species population

 the larger number of individuals in a species, the larger the genetic diversity

Question 4

Benefit of high species diversity?

Answer 4

 Stable ecosystem
 each species is less likely to become extinct (due to high genetic diversity)
 & if a species does become extinct it will not affect the food chain as there are other species available

Question 5

How to measure Species Diversity for an area?

Answer 5

 Species Diversity Index
 takes into account the number of different species and how many individuals there are for each species
 the larger the species diversity index, the larger the species diversity

Question 6

How does deforestation lower species diversity?

Answer 6

 decreases plant species diversity
 less variety of habitats
 less variety of food sources
 decreases animal species diversity

Question 7

How does agriculture/farming lower species diversity?

Answer 7

 deforestation to make space for farm
 only grow a few plants & keep a few animal species
 selectively breed plants & animals
 use pesticides to kill other species

Question 8

What is Classification?

Answer 8

placing organisms into groups

Question 9

What is Hierarchical Classification?

Answer 9

 large groups divided into smaller groups with no overlap

 domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species

Question 10

What is Binomial Naming System?

Answer 10

 using Genus name and Species name to name organism
 Genus name first in capital, Species name second in lower case
 e.g. tiger = Felix tigris

Question 11

What is a Species?

Answer 11

a group of individuals with similar characteristics that can interbreed to produce fertile
offspring

Question 12

Why are the offspring from 2 different species mating infertile?

Answer 12

 offspring will have a odd number of chromosomes
 therefore, cannot perform meiosis, cannot produce gametes
 example: horse + donkey = mule

Question 13

What is Phylogenetic Classification?

Answer 13

based on evolutionary relationships – how closely related different species are and how recent a common
ancestor they have

Question 14

ways of comparing relationship between different species?

Answer 14

AA Sequence: comparing AA sequence for the same protein (e.g. haemoglobin in mammals)
results = more similar the AA sequence
more similar the DNA base sequence
more similar the species
more closely related
more recent a common ancestor

Question 15

What is Variation?

Answer 15

difference in characteristics between organisms

Question 16

Causes of Intraspecific Variation?

Answer 16

Genetic Factors = same genes but different alleles (allele are different type/forms of genes)
Environmental Factors

Question 17

Causes of Interspecific Variation?

Answer 17

Genetic Factors = different genes and different alleles

Environmental Factors

Question 18

Types of Characteristics?

Answer 18

Discontinuous and Continuous

Question 19

Properties of Discontinuous Characteristics?

Answer 19

characteristics fall into certain groups with no overlap (e.g. blood group) – determined by genetics only
(a single gene)

Question 20

Properties of Continuous Characteristics?

Answer 20

characteristics show a range (e.g. height) – determined by genetics (a few genes, polygenes) and
environment