The variety of life on Earth – its genes, species, populations and ecosystems
What is biological diversity?
100
Geographically specified system of organisms, including humans, their environment and the processes that control their dynamics.
What is an ecosystem?
100
Food, fuel wood, fiber and medicines
What is a provisioning service?
100
Currently the most serious threat to biodiversity.
What is habitat loss?
100
Process where an individual changes in a way that makes them better adapted to a certain environmental condition.
What is evolution?
200
DNA, Genes, Species, Population and Ecosystems
What are the 5 Levels of Biodiversity?
200
Forests, Deserts, Grasslands and Mountains
What are terrestrial ecosystems or macro-ecosystems?
200
Benefits obtained from cleaning air, purifying water and mitigating floods.
What is a regulating service?
200
Process that often results in decreased soil fertility and increased soil erosion
What is deforestation?
200
Centers of endemism that have unusually high levels of habitat destruction.
What are hotspots?
300
Holding Up Human Existence
What is sustainability?
300
Amount of original forest lost in the lower 48 states
What is 90%?
300
Transforming gaseous nitrogen into organic nitrogen in the soil
What is a supporting service?
300
Single greatest threat to marine species?
What is overexploitation or overfishing?
300
Species found nowhere else
What is endemics?
400
Most widely used measure for the loss of biodiversity
What is species loss?
400
Habitat for fishes that renders protection for coastal areas against storm surges and is an important recreational site for tourists
What are coral reefs?
400
Organisms that act as filtering systems to remove suspended materials from waterways.
What are bivalve mollusks?
400
Biodiverse Hitchhikers
What are introduced or invasive species?
400
Energy base that powers all ecological processes
What is primary productivity or net primary productivity?
500
First prokaryotes that can often live in extreme environments
What are archaea?
500
The most common ecosystems found in many coastal areas.
What are mangrove forests and salt marshes?
500
Ability to filter out contaminants from the natural environment
What is bioremediation or phytoremediation?
500
Habitat experiencing the quickest rate in decline of biodiversity.
What is freshwater?
500
The use of species diversity to buffer an ecosystem against such stresses as temperature changes, diseases and pests that can result in species loss and ecosystem disruption
What is ecosystem resilience or ecosystem reliability?