4.1 - Intro to Biodiversity

Question 1

What are the three categories/levels of biodiversity?

Answer 1

1. Ecosystem diversity
2. Species diversity
3. Genetic diversity

Question 2

What is ecosystem diversity?

Answer 2

the number of diff. habitats available in a given area

Question 3

What is species diversity?

Answer 3

the number of diff. species in an ecosystem and the balance or evenness of the pop. sizes of all species in the ecosystem

Question 4

What is genetic diversity?

Answer 4

how different the genes are of individuals within a population (group of the same species)

Question 5

What happens with higher diversity?

Answer 5

Higher biodiversity = higher ecosystem/population health

Question 6

What is richness?

Answer 6

(r) is just the total number of different species found in an ecosystem

Question 7

What is Evenness?

Answer 7

is a measure of how all of the individual organisms in an ecosystem are balanced between the different species

Question 8

What does higher richness indicate?

Answer 8

• High (r) is generally a good sign of ecosystem health
• more species means more quality resources like H2O & soil

Question 9

What does evenness indicate?

Answer 9

Evenness indicates if there are one or two dominant species, or if pop. sizes are well balanced

Question 10

What is genetic diversity?

Answer 10

measure of how different the genomes (set of genes) are of the individuals within a population of a given species

Question 11

How is there genetic diversity in every population and ecosystem?

Answer 11

There is genetic diversity in all pops. because random mutations in copying of DNA & recombination of chromosomes in sex cells of parents leads to new gene combinations & new traits in offspring

Question 12

What is a result from higher genetic diversity?

Answer 12

• The more genetic diversity in a pop. the better the population can respond to env. Stressors like drought, disease, or famine
• More gen. div. = higher chance that some of the individuals in a pop. have traits that allow them to survive the env. stressor

Question 13

What is a bottleneck event?

Answer 13

An env. disturbance (natural disaster/human hab. destruction) that drastically reduces pop. size & kills organisms regardless of their genome

Question 14

What are the results of a bottleneck event?

Answer 14

• Surviving pop. is smaller and because individuals died randomly, it doesn’t represent the genetic diversity of the original pop.
• Bottleneck events reduce genetic diversity
• Because the pop. is smaller & less genetically diverse, it’s even more vulnerable to future env. disturbances

Question 15

What is inbreeding?

Answer 15

Inbreeding is when organisms mate with closely related “family” members

Question 16

What is the result of inbreeding?

Answer 16

Leads to higher chance of offspring having harmful genetic mutations because they’re getting similar genotypes from both parents

Question 17

What population is more likely to experience inbreeding? Why?

Answer 17

• Smaller populations are more likely to experience inbreeding
• difficult to find non-related mate

Question 18

What is ecosystem resilience?

Answer 18

the ability of an ecosystem to return to its original conditions after a major disturbance (wind storm, fire, flood, clear-cutting, etc.)

Question 19

What does higher resilience lead to?

Answer 19

• Higher species diversity = higher ecosystem resilience
• High sp. div means more plant species to repopulate disturbed ground, anchor soil, and provide food & habitat for animal species