biodiversity and ecosystem services

Question 1

How much faster are species being lost than the average background rate found in the fossil record and what’s the reference?

Answer 1

1000 times faster (De Vos et al., 2015)

Question 2

What does Biodiversity mean and what is the reference?

Answer 2

Biodiversity encompasses all the variability found in living organisms in terrestrial and aquatic systems (but we mainly mean diversity of species) (Quijas and Balvanera, 2013)

Question 3

What is the most important determinant of
overall coastal and oceanic marine biodiversity? and source

Answer 3

Sea surface temperature (Tittensor et al., 2010)

Question 4

What is the current state of global biodiversity?

Answer 4

We are currently experiencing the sixth mass extinction
Species are being lost at ~1000 E/MSY (i.e. 1000 extinctions per million species per year)

Question 5

What is an ecosystem function?

Answer 5

Ecological processes that control the fluxes of energy, nutrients and organic matter through an environment (Cardinale et al ., 2012)

Question 6

What is an ecosystem service?

Answer 6

A benefit that ecosystems provide to humanity (Cardinale et al ., 2012)

Question 7

Give five examples of an ecosystem service

Answer 7

Soil formation, production of oxygen, pollination, flood control, recreation