Topic 1: Biodiversity

Question 1

Identify the difference between spatial comparison and temporal comparison

Answer 1

Spatial comparison compares 2 areas whereas temporal comparison compares one area at different times

Question 2

What are the tolerance limits regarding climate?

Answer 2

• Precipitation
• Temperature
• Wind direction/speed
• Cloud cover
• Sunshine

Question 3

Turbidity is […]

Answer 3

The cloudiness of water

Question 4

Describe how environmental factors limit the distribution and abundance of species in an ecosystem?

Answer 4

Because each organism has their own specific tolerance limit or range that restricts where that organism can potentially live. Therefore, if there is limited spots within an ecosystem that an organism can live this creates competition for these areas with the appropriate tolerance range.

Question 5

Biodiversity (biological diversity) is the […], the genes that they contain and the ecosystems they are a part of.

Answer 5

Biodiversity (biological diversity) is the variety of all life forms, the genes that they contain and the ecosystems they are a part of.

Question 6

Biodiversity (biological diversity) is the variety of all life forms, the genes that they contain and the […].

Answer 6

Biodiversity (biological diversity) is the variety of all life forms, the genes that they contain and the ecosystems they are a part of.

Question 7

Biodiversity (biological diversity) is the variety of all life forms, the […] and the ecosystems they are a part of.

Answer 7

Biodiversity (biological diversity) is the variety of all life forms, the **genes that they contain **and the ecosystems they are a part of.

Question 8

Genetic diversity refers to the number of different alleles possessed by a species, and the variation in genes between members of a species It is determined using techniques like […] and […]

Answer 8

DNA profiling and DNA sequencing

Question 9

Genetic diversity refers to the […], and the variation in […] It is determined using techniques like DNA profiling and DNA sequencing

Answer 9

Genetic diversity refers to the number of different alleles possessed by a species, and the variation in genes between members of a species. It is determined using techniques like DNA profiling and DNA sequencing

Question 10

Explain why genetic diversity increases survival?

Answer 10

Genetic diversity serves as a way for populations to adapt to changing environments. With more variation, it is more likely that some individuals in a population will possess variations of alleles that are suited for the environment. Those individuals are more likely to survive to produce offspring bearing that allele.

Without genetic diversity, if a change kills one it kills all

Question 11

Explain why it is important to have a high species diversity?

Answer 11

Ecosystems with a large number of species are less likely to collapse due to small environmental changes. This is because the ecosystem is not dependent on a singular organism at each trophic level.

Question 12

Species richness is the […]

Answer 12

number of different species in an ecosystem. It’s just a tally of the number of species

Question 13

Species abundance is the […]

Answer 13

number of individuals in a species

Question 14

Species evenness (AKA relative species abundance) is the […]. Higher relative species abundance means that the species in question dominates the ecosystem. If you have an ecosystem dominated by 1 or 2 species, it is less diverse than one with several species with similar abundance

Answer 14

species abundance relative to the number of individuals in the ecosystem

Question 15

Explain why we use percentage cover

Answer 15

It is used to find the the number of plants in a particular ecosystem when it would be impractical to count them such as grass. Therefore, using sampling methods like transects and quadrats, the percentage cover of organisms can be calculated.

Question 16

Identify the formula for Simpson’s Diversity Index

Answer 16