Topic 1

Question 1

What is biodiversity?

Answer 1

• the variety of life on earth

Question 2

Biological diversity

1. What is species diversity?

Answer 2

• all of the variety of species of animals, plants, fungi, and micro-organisms that occur in an area.

Question 3

Biological diversity

2. What is genetic diversity?

Answer 3

• genetic variation within a population and between populations of a single species.

Question 4

What is a population?

Answer 4

A group of individuals of the same species that live in the same area and interbreed, producing fertile offspring.

ex: our class

Question 5

Biological diversity

3. What is ecosystem diversity?

Answer 5

• where species live, connect, and interact.
• the variety of different habitats in a region, and their patterns and linkages across the landscape
• human activity reduces ecosystem diversity.

Question 6

What are some benefits of diversity?

Answer 6

• biodiversity maintains healthy ecosystems and thereby sustaining ecosystem services to human populations.
• there are four ecosystem services that ecosystems provide.

Question 7

What are the four ecosystem services that ecosystems provide?

Answer 7

1. provisioning services are the products we obtain from nature (food, wood, water, raw materials, medicine, etc.)
2. Regulating services are the benefits humans receive beyond raw materials (climate regulation, purification of water and air, pollination, pest control)
3. Supporting services are critical to biosphere viability, such as oxygen, absorption of CO2, nutrients and water, and providing habitats.
4. cultural services are intangible, non-material benefits to people from the ecosystem (hiking, skiing, enjoying the landscape)

Question 8

What are the two types of species losses?

Answer 8

Extinction: When a species no longer exists anywhere on the globe.

Extirpation: When a species no longer exists in a defined geographic region but it can still be found elsewhere. (local extinction).

Question 9

What makes a species endangered?

Answer 9

species facing imminent extinction. Threatened species are likely to become endangered if no action is taken.

Question 10

What are the four major threats to biodiversity?

Answer 10

1. Habitat Loss
2. Invasive Species
3. Overexploitation
4. Global Climate Change/