Lecture 22 - Chapter 26 - Patterns of Biodiversity

Question 1

What are the 3 components of biodiversity?

Answer 1

1. Genetic Diversity
2. Species Diversity
3. Ecosystem Diversity

Question 2

What is genetic diversity?

Answer 2

of genes in a species, subspecies, or group of species

Question 3

What is species diversity?

Answer 3

Comprised of both species richness & evenness

Question 4

What is ecosystem diversity?

Answer 4

variety of habitats in an ecosystem

Question 5

Why should we care about genetic diversity?

Answer 5

Higher genetic diversity = higher fitness/survival
more adapt to handle a variety of environmental conditions

Question 6

Are the same taxa dominant over time?

Answer 6

No - different environmental conditions led to rise and failure of species

Question 7

How many extinction events has Earth had so far?

Answer 7

5

Question 8

Earth is currently going through what? and why?

Answer 8

a 6th mass extinction caused by humans

Question 9

What is different in the tropics relative to more poleward locations?

Answer 9

Tropics has more sunlight, rain, year round growing season, higher NPP

Question 10

What are the two metrics for environmental (thermal) energy?

Answer 10

1. temperature
2. Potential Evapotranspiration (PET)

Question 11

What is PET?

Answer 11

the amount of evapotranspiration that would occur if there was a limitless supply of water, driven by climate

Question 12

What are the 3 scales of determining biodiversity?

Answer 12

1. Alpha
2. Beta
3. Gamma

Question 13

What is Alpha diversity?

Answer 13

species diversity (richness & evenness) within a community (small-scale)

Question 14

What is beta diversity?

Answer 14

variation in species composition from site to site (larger-scale, comparing one community to another)

Question 15

Beta diversity increases when two communities are ___.

Answer 15

Similar

Question 16

What is gamma diversity?

Answer 16

species richness for all organisms within a region, comprised of multiple communities.

Question 17

Why do we target biodiversity hotspots?

Answer 17

These are areas that have high species richness and a ton of human pressure so we can to protect the land such as amazon rain forest, spain, mexico.