Biodiversity

Methods to Complete Biodiversity Study of

Organism in One Local Habitat
• Line Transect – a long, narrow sampling area. It extends over a longer
portion of a study area than a plot does, resulting in a larger sample of
different plant species.
• Plot Study – a square area that can be divided into subplots. It is useful for
small areas that have a great variety of plant life.
Measuring Biodiversity Concepts
• Species – Refers to a group of organisms consisting of similar individuals
capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding.
• Population – Individuals of a single specie that live in area.

• Community – All of the populations that live in an area.

Measuring Biodiversity Concepts
• Habitat – The physical location or type of environment in which an
organism of biological population lives or occurs.
• Ecosystem – A dynamic complex of plant, animal, and microorganism
communities and their non-living environment interacting as functional
unit.
Measuring Biodiversity Concepts
• Limiting Factors – These are environmental conditions that keep a
population from increasing in size and help balance the ecosystems.
• Carrying Capacity – A species’ average population size in a particular
habitat. It is affected by the changes in the environment.
 Measuring Biodiversity Concepts
•  Richness – It is the number of unique species that
are present, but does not include the number of
individuals within those groups.
1. Abundance – the number of individuals present
in each group relative to the total number of
individuals.
Measuring Biodiversity Concepts
•2.  Biodiversity – is the variety of life and can
be measured on multiple scales including
genetic diversity, species diversity, and
ecosystem. The number of different species
that live in an ecosystem determine the
biodiversity.
3. Biodiversity Index – A particular way of
measuring biodiversity. The closer the
biodiversity index is, the more diverse the
community is.
Extinction
• The natural causes of extinction are climate change (natural ones), competition
from other animals, reduction of food source, or a combination of all.
• One extinction of an a species could lead to another.

• The ones that cannot adapt in the change of environment will not survive and most
likely fail to reproduce. It is part of the mechanism of evolution called “Natural
Selection”.
 Extinction Concepts
• Extinction – in biology, the dying
out or extermination of an entire
species.
• Endangered Species – are
species that are very likely to
become extinct in the near future.
• Natural Selection – is a process
where organisms with favorable
traits are more likely to survive
and reproduce.
 Extinction Concepts
• Desertification – is a process by which
fertile land becomes desert, typically as a
result of drought, deforestation, or
inappropriate agriculture.
• Invasive Species – are species that is not
native to a specific location, and has a
tendency to spread to a degree believed to
cause damage to the environment.
• Global Warming – is the unusually rapid
increase in average surface temperature
over the past century primarily due to the
greenhouse gases released by people
burning fossil fuels.
Aside from obvious causes like overhunting and
pollution, here are other ways humans are
causing mass extinction all around the planet.
Climate Change and Global Warming
• Ice Melts - Melted ice leads to the rise in sea level as well as submerging
low lying islands. This may also leads to extinction of animals in the polar
region such as polar bears an
Climate Change and Global Warming
• Global Warming – It gives rise to the El Nino and la Nina phenomenon
which brings major disasters such as floods, drought, heat waves, and
forest fires destroying habitats and killing its inhabitants.
Climate Change and Global Warming
• Change in Temperature – This forces many specie to flee their now
uncomfortable habitat. They migrate and invade other territories that are
similar to their old ones. Competition for resources against other species
soon follows and the loser and less adaptable ones will either migrate and
repeat the cycle or face extinction.
Climate Change and Global Warming
• Increase of Carbon Dioxide – This causes our
oceans to become more acidic. Acidic water
dissolves the shells of many sea creatures such as
crabs, shrimps, oysters, and soon even coral reefs
which is home to numerous marine lives.
Climate Change and Global Warming
• Ocean water expands when heated further raising sea levels.

• Small bodies of water in warmer areas dries out killing its inhabitants.
END