biodiversity at different levels

• what is meant by biodiversity?

  variety of living organisms present in an area
• why is maintaining biodiversity important?

  • maintains a balanced ecosystem
  • available food
  • available habitats
• what three levels are biodiversity studied at?

  • habitat biodiversity
  • species biodiversity
  • genetic biodiversity
• what is meant by habitat biodiversity?

  the number of different habitats found within an area
• what is the correlation between habitat and species biodiversity?

  the larger the habitat biodiversity, the larger the species biodiversity
• state three examples of habitat types in the UK with high habitat biodiversity

  • sand dunes
  • woodland meadows
  • streams
• one example each of high habitat and low habitat biodiversity areas?

  • UK (high habitat biodiversity)
  • Antarctica (low habitat biodiversity)
• what are the two levels of species biodiversity?

  • species richness
  • species eveness
• what is species richness?

  the number of different species living in a particular area
• what is species evenness?

  comparison of the numbers of individuals of each species living in a habitat
• what is meant by community?

  populations of living organisms of different species living in a habitat
• what is meant by population?

  organisms of one species living in a habitat
• true or false? two different areas with the same number of species in each area have the same species diversity

  FALSE- species richness may be the same, but evenness could mean that one species in an area is very dominant an in greater proportion than in the other area
• what is meant by genetic biodiversity?

  the variety of genes that make up a species

  • eg- humans have about 25,000 genes and flowering plants have about 400,000
• what components within genes leads to genetic biodiversity?

  • alleles
  • leads to different characteristics being exhibited
• why is greater genetic diversity within a species beneficial?

  • allows adaption to a changing environment
  • more likely to result in individuals who are resistant to disease