Topic 2.1: Introduction to Biodiversity Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering core topics from the lecture on biodiversity, species metrics, genetic mechanisms, bottleneck events, and ecosystem resilience.

Biodiversity

The overall diversity of life in a given ecosystem, measurable at three distinct levels: ecosystem, species, and genetic.

Ecosystem Diversity

The first and largest level of biodiversity, defined as the total number of different habitats available within a given geographic area.

Species Diversity

The variety of different species present in a given area, evaluated through both species richness and species evenness.

Genetic Diversity

The variation and differences among the genomes or gene pools of individual organisms within a single population.

Species Richness ($r$)

The total count of different species found within a given ecosystem.

Species Evenness

A measure indicating how balanced or evenly distributed individual organisms are among the various species present in an ecosystem.

Bottleneck Effect

An environmental disturbance that kills a large portion of a population regardless of individual genomes, significantly reducing both population size and genetic diversity.

Inbreeding

Mating between closely related individuals, which increases the probability of passing on two copies of a harmful or deleterious recessive allele.

Inbreeding Depression

A decline in population fitness and survival resulting from inbreeding, as seen in Florida panthers when reduced to $30$ individuals, leading to kinked tails, heart defects, low sperm counts, and cryptorchidism.

Ecosystem Resilience

The ability of an ecosystem to recover and return to its original baseline state after suffering a disturbance, such as a wildfire or hurricane.