BIODIVERSITY BIOL2

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A-Level AS AQA BIOLOGY Flashcards on BIODIVERSITY BIOL2, created by ashiana121 on 24/05/2015.
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Flashcards by ashiana121, updated more than 1 year ago
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Question Answer
What is meant by 'biodiversity'? The variety of all the life on earth
What are the three types of biodiversity? - Intraspecific - Interspecific - Ecosystem
What is meant by intraspecific diversity? Variety of alleles within a species
What is meant by ecosystem diversity? The variety of habitats within an ecosystem
What is meant by intraspecific diversity? The variety of species within a habitat
What is another name given to intraspecific diversity? Genetic diversity
Intraspecific (genetic) diversity can be due to variation in DNA or variation in ___________ Environment
How do new alleles arise? Due to mutations
What are the two types of genetic diversity? Continuous and discontinuous diversity
What is meant by continuous diversity? When the characteristic has a continuous range of values e.g height - the frequency histogram is a fairly smooth curve
In continuous data the characteristics: (4) - Have no distinct categories - Tend to be quantitative - Controlled by a large number of genes (polygenic characteristics) - Significantly affected by the environment
Give some examples of continuous characteristics in intraspecific diversity Height, hair colour, heart rate, intelligence, growth rate, rate of photosynthesis
What is meant by discontinuous variation? When the characteristics have a few discrete categories
In discontinuous variation the characteristics: (4) - Have a few distinct categories into which individuals can be placed - Tend to be qualitative, with no overlap between categories - Controlled by one gene, or by a small number of genes - Are unaffected, or only slightly affected by the environment
Discontinuous characteristics are ____ in humans Rare
Discontinuous characteristics are common in ______ Plants
What are some examples of discontinuous characteristics? Human blood group, ear lobes attachment, flower colour, seed colour
Why are these characteristics useful for geneticsists? They give clear cut results
What is genetic diversity the basis for? Evolution and survival of a species
Why is a species with a high genetic diversity more likely to have more members that survive in a change in the environment? It is more likely to have individuals with the characteristics required to survive in the change of environment
Some populations have low genetic diversity due to natural or human causes. What are these 3 causes? - Genetic bottlenecks - Founder Effect - Selective breeding
What is meant by a genetic bottleneck? When a population is drastically reduced in size due to a natural catastrophe or a continual, more gradual change in the environment
Why does this mean the genetic diversity is reduced in the smaller population? Small populations generally have a smaller range of alleles - if they reproduce and the population increases again there will be reduced genetic diversity
Why will the genetic diversity gradually increase in the new population? Due to mutations
The vast majority or intraspecific variation is caused by what? A combination of genes and environment
What is the name given to the technique that is useful for studying the causes of variation in humans? Twin studies
What does this entail? Variation in characteristics in identical twins compared to variation in the same characteristics between non-identical twins (or just siblings)
Why will the variation between the identical twins probably be due to environmental causes? Because they have identical genes
What is meant by the founder effect? When a small number of individuals colonies a new habitat and start a new isolated population
The few individuals will only have a small range of alleles between them so the founder effect is and example of what? A genetic bottleneck
What does this mean about the new populations made in terms of genetic diversity? They will have low genetic diversity
What is another term used to describe selective breeding? Artificial selection
What do these terms mean? The controlled breeding of animals or plants by humans so that only individuals with certain characteristics are allowed to reproduce
Selecting certain alleles and rejecting others during selective breeding means the genetic diversity of the animals or plants is _______ Reduced
What is the purpose of selective breeding? The change species so that they are more useful to humans
What does this result in? New breeds of animals and new varieties of plants
Why are these new breeds sometimes recognised as new species? They can no longer interbreed with the wild populations
Why are selectively breeding animals and plants not able to survive well in the wild and why are they highly susceptible to changes in the environment? Because they have such a low genetic diversity and are out-competed by wild species with greater diversity
What can intense selection lead to in terms of domesticated animals? The development of physical problems
Why wouldn't these fully develop in the wild? They would disappear due to competition
What ethical argument does this arise? Whether we are causing harm to the animals by selectively breeding them
All the organisms living in a habitat are collectively called its _________ Community
What does interspecific diversity (or species diversity) mean? The variety of species in a community
Why is species diversity useful? It tells us about the complexity, quality and stability of an ecosystem
In order to measure species diversity we need to ____ ________ Take samples
What is meant by the 'species richness' of a sample? The number of species in the sample
What does species richness not take into account which makes it less useful? The abundance (size) of each species population
What is the calculation we use to measure the species richness and their abundance?
What is D? The Diversity Index
What is N? N = total number of individuals (total abundance)
What is n? n = number of individuals in each species
What is the relationship between the index and the species diversity? The higher the index, the higher the species diversity
A community where one species is dominant over others has a ______ diversity than one where the species are more evenly populated Lower
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