measuring and comparing biodiversity

• species - group of organisms that can interbreed to produce fertile offspring
• reproductively isolated - can't breed with other species
• biodiversity - different populations of different species co-dependent of eachother
• species richness - number of different species in a habitat

  counting, using diversity index
• species evenness - number of individuals (abundance) of one species in a habitat

  count or % cover
• genetic diversity - number of different alleles within the gene pool (all alleles of all individuals in a species)

  can measure using the heterozygosity index
• allele - characteristic in the gene which is used to be expressed in the phenotype

  different version of a gene (different DNA base sequence) found at the same locus (position on chromosome)
• heterozygosity index

  H= no. of heterozygotes / number of individuals in a population of a species
• higher number of heterozygosity index = more genetic diversity
• endemic species - species that are found in 1 geographical area only
• diversity index = D = N (N-1) / ∑ n (n-1)

  n = total no. of one species
• reproductive isolation occurs when changes in the alleles and phenotypes of some individuals in a population prevent them from successfully breeding with others in the population that do not have these changed alleles or phenotypes
• reproductive isolation can lead to accumulation of different genetic information in populations, potentially leading to formation of new species