Biodiversity

• Species

  A group of organisms that share similar morphological/anatomical, physiological and behavioural characteristics and can interbreed to produce fertile offspring
• Habit

  The range of physical, biological and environmental factors within which a species can survive
• Population

  A group of organisms of the same species that live in a particular area
• Biodiversity

  A measure of how varied an ecosystem is. It can be measured in terms of genes, species or habitats.
• Endemism

  A group of organisms that are unique to a particular habitat, which must be geographically discrete such as an island or a certain type of vegetation.
• why do biologist study biodiversity

  • to quantify biodiversity so the data can be mapped on a local and global skill to reveal patterns in biodiversity
  • Help focus conservation efforts on vulnerable habitats or species
• Sources of genetic variation

  Meiosis: crossing over, independent assortment, random fertilisation And random mutation
• Explain how a random mutation causes genetic variation

  A random mutation changes the DNA in the of an organism creating new alleles. These new alleles are added to the gene pool increasing genetic diversity.
• genetic diversity allows the population to adapt to changing conditions
• Species richness

  The number of species present in a given habitat
• Species evenness

  A comparison of the size of the population of different species within a habitat/area
• Factors of species diversity

  • species richness
  • Species evenness
• Why do we measure species diversity

  • to see which areas need greater protection as ecosystems are interdependent. so comparisons can be made between different areas or the same area at different times
• What is the heterozygosity index?

  index to tell you how many there are In a particular species. more heterozygotes = higher genetic diversity
• The closer the heterozygotic index is to 1, the more diverse the species is. What does this mean for the species

  • they can have more selective advantages that can survive the Changing enviremt
  • More stable population
• how can diversity by quantifies

  • heterozygosity index
  • Simpsons index of diversity
• how to calculate Simpsons index of diversity

  Calculation

  
• How to calculate the heterozygosity index

  Calculation