components of biodiversity 7

• Components of biodiversity

  • Genetic diversity
  • Species diversity
  • Ecosystem diversity
• Genetic diversity

  The number and frequency of all alleles within a population
• After a bottle neck event

  The species may have lost some of its genetic diversity, and this may limit its ability to adapt to changing conditions
• Species diversity

  Comprises the number of different species in an ecosystem (the species richness) and the proportion of each species in the ecosystem (the relative abundance)
• A community with a dominant species has a lower species diversity than one with the same species richness but no particularly dominant species
• Ecosystem diversity

  Refers to the number of distinct ecosystems within a defined area