Module 4 - Biodiversity Flashcards
What is biodiversity?
A measure of all the species worldwide, the genes they contain and the habitats of which they form a part.
It is a measure of how varied an ecosystem is.
What are the 3 types of biodiversity?
Genetic diversity - variations in the genetic code.
Species diversity - How many different species in the area.
Habitat diversity - how many different habitats in an area.
What is a species?
A group of organisms with similar anatomy, physiological, biochemical and genetics as well as behavioral characteristics.
They can interbreed with each other to produce fertile offspring.
What are hybrids?
Different species can interbreed to produce infertile offspring sometimes. Eg liger and mule
What is a habitat?
The range of physical, biological and other environmental factors within which an ecosystem can survive.
Eg sand dunes, woodland.
What is species diversity and how is it decided what is more diverse?
Even if two habitats had equal number of species they may not be considered equally diverse.
A wild meadow and a garden may have 25 plant species, but the garden having mainly grass and small amounts of other species, whereas the meadow is more equal and so the meadow is much more diverse as species are evenly represented.
What is species richness?
The number of species.
What is species evenness?
The abundance of individuals in each species.
What does diversity refer to, species evenness or species richness?
Both
What is genetic biodiversity?
Variation between individuals belonging to the same species, dog breeds.
Why do you measure divserity?
It allows comparisons to be made between different areas and also in the same area but at different times.
What is Simpson’s Index of diversity?
It is a measure of the biodiversity of a habitat.
It considers both species richness and species evenness.
What is the Simpson’s Index of Diversity formula?
D = Σni(ni-1) / N(N-1)
where:
ni: The number of organisms that belong to species i
N: The total number of organisms
What does the numerical result of Simpson’s Index of Diversity mean?
A number between 0 and 1 produced.
0 means that all organisms in the area are the same species.
The closer to 1, the more diverse the area is.
How is genetic biodiversity created and why is genetic biodiversity important?
All members of a species share the same genes. There is very little variation within their DNA.
They may however, have different versions of the same gene (alleles).
The difference in alleles among individuals in a species creates genetic biodiversity within the population.
The more alleles present, the more genetically biodiverse the population.
Species with a greater genetic biodiversity are more likely to adapt to changes in their environment and therefore less likely to go extinct.
