Biodiversity

Question 1

Biodiveristy

Answer 1

-Biodiversity is the variety of life in an area
Species diversity= The number of different species in an area
Genetic diversity= the variation of allelles within a species
Ecosystem diversity= The number of different ecosystems/habitats in an area
-The higher the biodiversity- the more stable an ecosystem is

Question 2

Endemism

Answer 2

-Endemism is when a species is found in one specific place and nowhere else in the world
-Endemic species are more vulnerable to extinction because:
-The are highly adapted to the specific area
-They often have a small population size
-They cannot easily move to a new habitat if their habitat is destroyed

Question 3

Impact of human activity on biodiversity

Answer 3

-Habitat destruction
-Agriculture, urbanisation, and deforestation all destroys natural habitats
-can lead to loss of species and fractionated ecosystems
Climate change
-Global warming cause by human activity
-Changes in temperature/rainfall can change an organism’s survival
-Organisms may not be able to adapt fast enough to these changes, especially endemic species
Overexploitation
-Overfishing, hunting,logging
-Faster than species can reproduce
-Leading to potential extinction
Pollution
-Can damage or kill organisms e.g plastic waste, oil spills etc

Question 4

Simpsons biodiversity index

Answer 4

1- n (n-1)/ N (N-1)
-a biodiversity of 1 indicates infinite abundance of diversity
-A biodiversity of 0 indicates no diversity

Question 5

Heterozygosity index

Answer 5

-Heterozygotes= having two different allelles on a specific locus (indicating genetic diversity)
Heterozygosity index= number of heterozygotes/ total number if individuals in the population
-0= low genetic diversity
-1= very high genetic diversity

Question 6

Why is heterozygosity index important

Answer 6

-A high HG index suggests that there is a large amount of genetic diversity
-Genetic diversity is important for survival as it reduces the risk of disease and also increases species ability to adapt to environmental changes
-If a species has a low HG index, this suggests inbreeding, and this means that harmful recessive alleles are more likely to be expressed