Module 5: Biodiversity and Ecosystem (De)stabilization Flashcards
why is it important to be concerned about the current rate of biodiversity loss (3)
- biodiversity is needed to maintain human wellbeing
- responsibility to protect who we share Earth with
- biodiversity is beautiful
biodiversity
- the variety of forms of life, from genes to species, through to the broad scale of ecosystems
genetic diversity (2)
- all different genes contained in all living species
- includes genes inside plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms
species diversity
- all of the different species as well as the differences within and between species
why is species diversity a harder to analyze then other diversity types (2)
- species are defined by us
- challenging to determine loss/extinction
ecosystem diversity
- all different habitats, biological communities, ecological processes, and variation within individual ecosystems
is biodiversity uniform across the globe (2)
- not uniform due to the availability of limiting factors across the globe
- bottom of the food chain must be established before the top of the food chain can develop
what are some limiting factors for biodiversity (2)
- water
- sunlight
where is the most biodiversity on earth (2)
- near the equator where sunlight and water is abundant
- more diversity near shore (shallow seas) as there is more access to sunlight
ecosystem (2)
- a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment
- both biotic and abiotic components
what is the stock of an ecoSYSTEM
- it can be biodiversity
what makes an ecosystem a good candidate to be a system (3)
- it is full of interconnections
- lots of influencing factors that create emergent properties that cannot be studied as individual component
- contains lots of feedback loops
what kind of feedback loop is the nitrogen cycle
- balancing/stabilizing feedback loop
what is driving biodiversity loss (2)
- land use conversion
- temperature changes
global biodiversity loss
- over 58% of world’s land surface has experienced biodiversity loss significant enough to threaten ecosystem function
how has biodiversity loss affected the ecoSYSTEM
- emergent properties/function is becoming damaged
what is the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function (2)
- positively related; more biodiversity will allow for higher ecosystem functioning
- more species allow for greater stability of the ecosystem
ecosystem function (2)
- the collective life activities of plants, animals, and microbes and the effects of these activities
- feeding, growing, moving, excreting waste, etc all have physical and chemical effects on the environment
old paradigm of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (2)
- environmental variation drives biodiversity and ecosystem functioning
- environment affects biodiversity and ecosystem function, and ecosystem functioning affects biodiversity, but biodiversity does not affect the other sphered
what was studied to change the old paradigm of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning
- isolating effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning
what is the new paradigm of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning
- biodiversity and environmental variation jointly drive ecosystem functioning
how does having more species make ecosystems more stable (2)
- different species will vary in responses to environmental fluctuations
- allows for persistence of functionalities despite stressors on system
species richness
- number of species present
species composition
- identity of species present