ESS TOPIC 3

TOPIC 3.1: Introduction to biodiversity

- Biodiversity refers to the total diversity of living systems which includes habitat
diversity, genetic diversity and species diversity
- Species diversity:
- Species diversity in communities is a product of two variables: the number of species
and their relative proportions
- Species diversity is defined as the number of species and abundance of each species
that live in a particular location. The number of species that live in a certain location
is called species richness.
- Richness is a measure of the number of different species in an area; more species
means a richer environment. However, no account is taken of how common or rare
each species is
- Evenness looks at the relative abundance of the species. It therefore takes into
account the abundance or scarcity of each species and eliminates the problems of just
analysing species richness in an area
- Simpson's diversity index (D) is a simple mathematical measure that characterizes
species diversity in a community
- Habitat diversity:
- Habitat diversity refers to the range of different habitats in an ecosystem or biome
- Habitat diversity is made up of several components. Perhaps the most easily
recognized component of habitat diversity is vegetative diversity.
- Vegetative diversity refers to the number of different species of vegetation present.
The greater the number of species, the greater the vegetative diversity
- Diverse plant communities increase the likelihood that some of the plants that serve
as required food and cover species for a particular wildlife species are present. A
woodland may contain many different habitats (e.g. river, soil, trees) and so have a
high habitat diversity, whereas a desert has few (e.g. sand, occasional vegetation) and
so has a low habitat diversity. This habitat diversity provides more opportunities for
competition, adaptation and evolution of different species.
- Greater habitat diversity leads to greater species and genetic diversity
- Genetic diversity:
- Genetic diversity refers to the range of genetic material present in a population of a
species
- The term genetic diversity also covers distinct populations of a single species, such as
the thousands of breeds of different dogs or the numerous variety of roses
- Gene pool refers to all the different types of gene found within every individual of a
species. A large gene pool leads to high genetic diversity and a small gene pool to low
genetic diversity. Although the term normally refers to the diversity within one
species, it can also be used to refer to the diversity of genes in all species within an
area
- While some individuals might be able to tolerate an increased load of pollutants in
their environment, others, carrying different genes, might suffer from infertility or
even die under the exact same environmental conditions. Whilst the former will
continue to live in the environment the latter will either have to leave it or die. This
process is called natural selection and it leads to the loss of genetic diversity in
certain habitats. However, the individuals that are no longer present might have
carried genes for faster growth or for the ability to cope better with other stress factors
- Endemic - native or restricted to a particular area e.g. the Bali Starling is found only
on the island of Bali. It is endemic to Bali. It is a Bali endemic species
- Conservation:
- The ability to assess changes to biodiversity in a given community over time is
important in assessing the impact of human activity in the community
- Conservation aims to protect habitats and ecosystems, and hence species from
human-made disturbances, such as deforestation and pollution.
- Conservation activities aim to slow the rate of extinction caused by the knock-on
effects of unsustainable exploitation of natural resources and to maintain biotic
interactions between species
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