Unit 8: Topic 6 - Biodiversity Flashcards
How resilient are ecosystems (natural and artificial) with low biodiversity and less genetic variation within species to changes in the environment?
When an a ecosystem (a natural ecosystem is an ecosystem that is original to Earth and an artificial ecosystem is one that is man made) has low biodiversity and the species in it have low genetic variation, it means that if an environmental change happen, the ecosystem would be less likely to survive. This is because a species with low genetic variation are less likely to have an advantageous trait to survive and reproduce. If they don’t have the advantageous trait, that species will go extinct. If the species that went extinct was the only species of that energy level (because of low biodiversity), its prey will have no one eating them and their population will rapidly increase, while the predators of the now extinct species will no longer have food to eat and their population will decrease. Overall this causes instability in the ecosystem and cause it to collapse until a new species can fill the niche.
How do keystone species maintain diversity?
a) Keystone species are species in an ecosystem that have a much greater impact on the stability of the ecosystem compared to the other species. Examples of a keystone species would be the starfish, who is responsible to for controlling the mussel population whose populations can rapidly increase, take away nutrition from other species and decrease the biodiversity of the organism.
How do producers maintain diversity?
b) Most of the producers of the ecosystem convert the light energy from the sun and convert it into glucose, which primary consumers use. They are the energy input of the ecosystem. Some producers are chemical autotrophs (organisms that make their own food) and they convert other energy sources into glucose. The greater the number of producers there are, the more energy that is available in the ecosystem and the greater the carrying capacity (the population limit an ecosystem can support for each species) of the environment. When there is an increase in carrying capacity, competition decreases and more species are able to live in the ecosystem. (increase in biodiversity)
How do biotic and abiotic factors maintain diversity?
c) Abiotic factors such as the Sun, water and space dictate the carrying capacity which determines the biodiversity. Biotic factors, such as fungi decompose dead material to bring nutrients back into the soil which the producers need to grow.
How does the diversity of a an ecosystem influence the organization of the ecosystem?
The increase in diversity of species makes the ecosystem more stable. This is because if something were to happen where a species would go extinct, a species at the same energy level would be able to grow its population to fit that niche. This keeps the organization of that ecosystem relatively constant. However, if the biodiversity is low, a species going extinct can cause the populations of its prey and predator to increase and decrease, respectively and can cause the collapse of the ecosystem, changing the ecological organization.
What is a keystone species and what is its role in the ecosystem.
Keystone species are species in an ecosystem that have a much greater impact on the stability of the ecosystem compared to the other species. Examples of a keystone species would be the starfish, who is responsible to for controlling the mussel population whose populations can rapidly increase, take away nutrition from other species and decrease the biodiversity of the organism. NOTE: A keystone species can be found in any of the energy levels. It does not necessarily have to be an apex predator.
