Biodiversity & Biogeography
Identify 2 factors that are used to measure biodiversity.
What are species richness and species abundance/evenness?
What is meant by the phrase "survival of the fittest"?
What is the organisms that are best adapted to their surroundings will survive to reproduce?
Explain 2 factors that differentiate primary succession from secondary succession.
What is primary succession has no soil or previously existing life?
List the 4 ecosystem services.
What are provisioning, cultural, supporting, and regulating services?
What is an endemic species?
What is a species that lives in only one specific area of the world?
Why would a large island close to the mainland have more biodiversity than a large island farther out to sea?
What is more species are able to travel shorter distances than longer distances?
What level of classification does evolution act on?
What is population?
Propose a way in which a scientist could determine if an ecosystem was approaching a climax community.
What is recording species of vegetation each year?
List 4 examples of a cultural ecosystem service.
What are recreation, tourism, mental and physical health, and spiritual experiences?
What is an adaptation?
What is a trait that by random chance gives an individual a survival advantage in a specific environment. Over time, this trait will become more prevalent in the population as a whole.
Ecosystem A has 5 different species with the following abundances: A - 20%, B - 30%, C - 20%, D - 20%, and E 10%
Ecosystem B has 5 different species with the following abundances: A - 5% B - 25% C - 25%, D - 35%, and E 10%
Which has the higher biodiversity and why?
What is ecosystem A because the abundance of each species is more evenly distributed?
Explain how the founder effect differs from a population bottleneck and provide an example of each.
What is the founder effect is usually caused by migration of individuals to a new area and a population bottleneck is caused by a natural disaster or human disturbance?
Examples: polydactyly and elephant seals
Provide an example of a positive feedback loop related to environmental science.
What is increasing global temperature, erosion, or increased melting of sea ice?
Answers can vary.
What are methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), and water vapor (H20).
What is meant by a terrestrial island and how might one form?
List 3 factors that lead to an increase in biodiversity in a given area.
What are mutation, natural selection, gene flow?
Explain the difference and similarity between artificial selection and natural selection.
Describe how the introduction of different plant species impacts the formation of soil during primary succession.
What is lichens create soil from breaking down rock, the decay of mosses creates a thin layer of soil with few nutrients. As grasses and flowers are introduced and decay more nutrients are added and soil eventually becomes thick enough to support trees.
List 5 of the potentially severe impacts of climate change.
What are droughts, floods, sea level rise, melting glacier, melting mountain snow, more severe weather, heat waves?
Explain negative feedback and provide any example.
What is also called corrective feedback - when the components of a system move in the opposite direction.
Example: House is hot, AC turns on, House reaches desired temperature, AC turns off
Describe 4 reasons decreasing biodiversity is harmful for humans.
What are food sources, medicines, climate change (carbon storage among other things), and erosion and nutrient cycling?
List the 5 mechanisms of evolution.
What are non-random mating, mutation, natural selection, gene flow, and genetic drift.
Best teacher at KR?
Explain how the Florida panther population was brought back to a healthy biodiversity.
Explain the differences between a specialist species and a generalist species.
What is a specialist species can survive in only a specific habitat with specific food while a generalist is more opportunistic and can eat a broad range of foods and live in a broad range of habitats?