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Biology > Module 4.2.1 - Biodiversity > Flashcards

Module 4.2.1 - Biodiversity Flashcards

1
Q

What is biodiversity?

A

The number of different ecosystems and habitats in an area, the number of species within those ecosystems and the genetic variation within each species

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2
Q

What are the 3 levels of biodiversity?

A
  • habitat
  • species
  • genetic
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3
Q

What is habitat biodiversity?

A

The number of different habitats in an area, includes both abiotic and biotic factors

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4
Q

What are abiotic factors?

A
  • air
  • soil
  • salinity
  • temperature
  • humidity
  • light
  • water
  • minerals
  • pH
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5
Q

What are biotic factors?

A
  • food webs
  • competition
  • availability of food
  • predators
  • parasitism
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5
Q

What is species biodiversity?

A

Number of different species (species richness) and abundance of each species (species evenness) in an area#
- 2 habitats may have equal number of different species but representation in 1 may be dominated by 1 or 2 species

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6
Q

What is genetic biodiversity?

A

Variation of alleles within species/population of species
- greater genetic biodiversity within species allows for better adaptation to a changing environment and more likely result in individuals who are resistant to disease
- often limited in small populations where there are more chance of inbreeding

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7
Q

What is sampling?

A

Taking measurements of a limited number of individual organisms present in a particular area

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8
Q

What must sampling be a representive of?

A
  • size of area or length of transect
  • incorporation of repeat measurements
  • accounting for different times of year
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9
Q

What ways are quadrats used to assess abundance?

A
  • species frequency
  • species density
  • percentage cover
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10
Q

What is species frequency?

A

Calculates % of quadrats that include each species

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11
Q

What is species density?

A

Number of individual organisms within a quadrat

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12
Q

What is random sampling?

A

Taken to avoid bias in locations for sampling, dividing area into gird and using random number generator to determine coordinated for sampling. Ensures each sample site has some probability of being chosen

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13
Q

What is percentage cover?

A

% of area of quadrat in which plant or animal occur, ideal for species such as grass high in abundance

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14
Q

What are 3 types of non-random sampling?

A
  • opportunistic
  • stratified
  • systematic
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15
Q

What is opportunistic (non-random sampling)?

A
  • weakest form of sampling
  • researcher makes decisions from prior knowledge
  • may deliberately sample an area they know contains particular species
  • quicker/easier
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16
Q

What is stratified (non-random sampling)?

A

Habitat divided into areas and sample from each area separately

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17
Q

What is systematic (non-random sampling)?

A
  • samples are taken at fixed intervals across habitat
  • used to investigate effect of a changing factor on biodiversity (such as soil, pH, moisture)
  • other species may be missed
  • clear gradient in environmental factor
    e.g. belt transect, interrupted belt transect, line transect
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18
Q

What ca be used to sample animals?

A
  • beating tray
  • pooter
  • sweep net
  • pond net
  • pitfall traps
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19
Q

What is the process of the capture-mark-release-recapture method?

A
  1. capture certain number of animal species and mark them, this is the first sample (S1)
  2. release animals back into environment
  3. after suitable length of time to allow the mixing of population, repeat same sample technique
  4. some individuals caught in second sample (S2) will be marked individuals and others unmarked
  5. smaller the number of marked individuals, the larger the population size
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20
Q

What can be used to estimate population using capture-mark-release-recapture method?

A

The Lincoln Index:
Population size = (S1) x (S2)
—————-
(S2)

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21
Q

What is the Lincoln Index?

A

Population size = (S1) x (S2)
—————-
(S2)

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22
Q

What does the Index being closer to 1 mean?

A

More diverse the habitat and greater ability to cope with change

22
Q

What equation is used to calculate biodiversity?

A

D = 1 - Σ n^2
—-
N^2

23
Q

What does low Index values (closer to 0) mean?

A

Habitat is less stable and more likely to be damages by change

23
Q

What is the types of food webs in low and high biodiversity?

A

Low - relatively simple
High - complex

24
Q

What is the number of successful species in low and high biodiversity?

A

Low - relatively few
High - large number

25
Q

What is the nature of the environment in low and high biodiversity?

A

Low - stressful/extreme with few ecological niches
High - benign/not stressful, more ecological niches

26
Q

What is the adaptation of species to the environment in low and high biodiversity?

A

Low - few species live there. very specific adaptations for environment
High - many species live there, few specific adaptations to environment

27
Q

What is the effect of a change to environment on ecosystem as a whole in low and high biodiversity?

A

Low - major effects on ecosystem
High - often relatively small

28
Q

What is the importance of genetic biodiversity?

A
  • isolated populations may be small, genetic diversity may be limited
  • assessing genetic diversity can help to assess value of that population as a resource of conservation, determine where efforts are needed to increase genetic diversity of a population
29
Q

What decreases genetic biodiversity?

A
  • selective breeding
  • captive breeding
  • rare breeds
  • artificial cloning
  • natural selection
  • genetic bottlenecks
  • founder effect
  • genetic drift
30
Q
A
31
Q

What is polymorphism?

A
  1. alleles are different versions of a gene
  2. alleles of same gene are always found at the same point (locus) on a chromosome
  3. polymorphism describes a locus that has more than 2 alleles
  4. most genes are monomorphic (single allele exists for this gene), ensuring basic structure of individuals within species remains constant
32
Q

What is the equation to find the proportion of polymorphic gene loci?

A

total number of loci

33
Q

What is the leading cause for the loss of biodiversity?

A

Humans

34
Q

What are some of the main threats to biodiversity from the human population?

A
  • habitat destruction and degradation of environment
  • over exploitation and unsustainable use of resources
  • modern agricultural practises, including monoculture, using chemical fertilisers and crop protection chemicals
  • global climate change
35
Q

What are the 6 factors that affect biodiversity?

A
  • ecological reasons
  • aesthetic reasons
  • economic reasons
  • human population
  • agriculture
  • climate change
36
Q

How do ecological reasons affect biodiversity?

A
  • all organisms are interdependent on others for their survival
  • the removal of 1 species may have a significant affect on others
  • some species play a key role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community, these are called keystone species
  • they have a disproportional large effect on their environment relative to their abundance
  • they effect many other organisms in an ecosystem and help determine species richness and evenness in a community
  • when a keystone species is removed, all other species are affected and may disappear all together
37
Q

What are keystone species?

A

Species that play a key role in the structure of an ecological community. They have a disproportional large effect on their environment relative to their abundance

38
Q

How do economic reasons affect biodiversity?

A
  • deforestation is primarily caused by human activity and the demand for timber to create space for housing
  • in the long term, unsustainable deforestation can cause soil erosion and desertification which could reduce a countries ability to grow crops and feed its population
  • unsustainable removal of resources will eventually lead to the collapse of that particular industry
  • large scale biodiversity means that species of potential economic importance, like medicine, may become extinct before they are even discovered
38
Q

How do aesthetic reasons affect biodiversity?

A
  • the presence of different plants and animals in our environment enrich people’s lives
  • people recover rapidly from stress and illness when supported by plants and the environment
39
Q

How does the human population affect biodiversity?

A
  • human population is growing at a dramatic rate, over 7 billion people are living in the world which is double the number alive in 1960s and over x7 more than 1800s
  • this increasing growth rate is linked to improvements in medicine, hygiene and infrastructure which enable people to live for longer
  • to create enough space for housing, industry and farming to support increasing population, humans are severely disrupting the ecology of many areas
40
Q

How does agriculture affect biodiversity?

A
  • increasing amount land has to be framed in order to feed the growing population
  • has resulted in large amounts of land being cleared and in many cases, planted with a single crop or used to rear a single animal species (monoculture)
  • farmers often selectively breed these few species, further decreasing genetic biodiversity of these populations
  • hedgerows are often removed to accommodate large machinery used in planting, fertilising and harvesting, but this destroys the habitats of blackbirds, hedgehogs and mice for example
41
Q

How does climate change affect biodiversity?

A
  • there’s much evidence that the release of CO2 and other pollutants into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels increase global temps
  • if global warming continues, the melting of the polar ice caps could lead to extinction of the few animal and plant species and rising sea levels which can cause flooding, decreases terrestrial habitats
  • warm temps could also result in some plant species being unable to survive and xerophytic plants becoming dominant
42
Q

Why do we need to maintain biodiversity?

A
  • ecological
  • economic
  • aesthetic
43
Q

What can ecological reasons be?

A

Protecting species, maintaining genetic resources

44
Q

Why is protecting species important in ecological reasons?

A
  • all organisms in habitat are linked together in a food chain or web
  • range of relationships between organisms, includes predator-prey, intra-inter species competitors, parasitic-mutualistic
  • if 1 species is affected by human activity, it will affect other species, have greater effect in habitats with lower biodiversity
  • decline of keystone species have extreme and catastrophic effect on habitat
  • loss of species can disrupt food chain or nutrient cycle
45
Q

Why is maintaining genetic resources important in ecological reasons?

A
  • allowing biodiversity to decline means genetic diversity also declines
    -genetic resources refers to any materials from plants, animals or microorganisms, containing genes that we find valuable, could include crops, plants for medicine or animal breeds
  • provides us with variety of everyday products, food + drink, clothing, drugs, fuel and other industrial materials
  • allows us to adapt to changes in environment, genetic engineering crops crops cope with new conditions caused by climate change
46
Q

What are keystone species?

A

One that has a disproportionate effect upon its environment relative to its abundance

47
Q

What can economic reasons be?

A

Reducing soil depletion and ecosystem services helps maintain biodiversity

48
Q

Why is soil depletion important to economic reasons?

A
  • continuous monoculture involves planting the same crop in the same field without interruption
  • this creates soil depletion as the nutrients required by the crop are gradually used up, soil becomes less fertile
  • economic costs of soil depletion include increased spending on fertilizers and decreased yields
49
Q

Why are aesthetic reasons important?

A
  • areas of natural wilderness and managed countryside are appreciated by many
  • brings joy to millions of people and provides inspiration for artists, poets, photographers, writers and creative people
  • ecotourism: more biodiversity in an area, the more visitors the area is likely to attract
  • studies have shown patients recover more rapidly from stress and injury when supported by plants and a relatively natural environment
49
Q

What is monoculture?

A

Growing a single variety of a single crop

50
Q

Why is ecosystem services important to economic reasons?

A
  • plants transpire water vapor, which contributes to the water cycle to provide drinking water
  • water is filtered through soils and rocks before entering the water supply
  • soil fertility is maintained by nutrient cycling, such as decomposers and microbes convert various forms of nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur
  • organic waste material is broken down
  • coasts are protected from erosion by reefs and mangrove forests
  • habitats moderate floods, draught and extremes of wind and temperature
  • pollinators ensure crop plants and orchid crops are fertilized to provide food
  • forests and peat bogs absorb CO2 and act as carbon sinks
  • discovery of molecules with potential as medicine

Biology (10 decks)

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