Biodiversity and investigating diversity

• What is biodiversity


  ~The variety of living organisms

  ~It can be measured in terms of species diversity, ecosystem diversity and genetic diversity
• Define community


  All the different species that live in one area and interact with each other
• What impact does farming have on species diversity

  ~Decreases species richness

  ~Farmland is typically used for one species

  ~Use of pesticides/herbicides
• How can biodiversity be increased in areas of agriculture

  ~Use hedgerows instead of fences

  ~Grow different crops in the same area or rotate crops around after a season

  ~Limit use of pesticides and herbicides
• Name four ways we can compare genetic diversity between organisms

  ~Frequency of observable characteristics

  ~Base sequence of DNA

  ~Base sequence of mRNA

  ~Amino acid sequence
• What is meant by gene technology

  ~Sampling DNA or mRNA in order to read and compare the base sequence of organisms

  ~Alternatively the amino acid sequence can be studies as this will also provide information on the organism's mRNA and DNA sequencess
• Why do scientists prefer to use gene technology instead of observation

  ~Simply inferring DNA differences by observing an organism's characteristics is not reliable

  ~The characteristics could be coded for by more than one gene, or could be influenced by the environment
• What is meant by interspecific and intraspecific variation

  Interspecific = differences between individuals of different species

  Intraspecific = differences between individuals of the same species
• What is sampling


  Selecting a group of individuals to measure that will represent the whole target population
• How can a random sample be achieved

  ~Create a grid for your sample area, and then randomly generate coordinates where a quadrat or transect can be placed

  ~Repeat until required sample size is reached