calculating biodiversity

• what is Simpson's index of biodiversity for and why is it useful?

  • used to calculate biodiversity
  • takes into account species richness and evenness
  • the higher the number, the more diverse the habitat
• what does each symbol mean in the Simpson's index equation?

  D is the measure of biodiversity

  A) all species

  B) each individual species

  
• what do low and high values of D tell us about a habitat?

  information about how we can interpret the levels of biodiversity

  A) few

  B) large

  C) stressful with few niches

  D) not stressful with more niches

  E) very specific to environment

  F) not many characteristics very specific to environment

  G) simple

  H) complex

  I) major effect

  J) small effect

  
• what is an ecological niche?

  • The niche of a species is its role within its ecosystem/habitat.
  • Species which share the same niche compete with each other and the better adapted species will survive
• why is it important to conserve habitats even with a low biodiversity?

  • organisms present in the habitat can be adapted specifically to survive the extreme conditions of that habitat
  • therefore they may not be able to survive anywhere else
  • so there's need to conserve rare species which are too specialised to survive anywhere else