Extinction

Biodiversity

Variety of life found in an area; highest when many life forms are present in reasonable numbers

Why is biodiversity important for ecosystems

It keeps ecosystems healthy through interactions between various life forms

What are the 3 levels at which biodiversity can be studied

Ecosystem, species, and genetics

Genetic diversity

The variety of genes and traits available with a species

Why is genetic diversity important

Makes population more stable and better able to withstand environmental stressors like disease and extreme weather conditions

Species Diversity

Variety and relative abundance of different species in a community

2 components that make up species diversity

Species richness and species evenness

ecosystem diversity

Variety of ecosystems within a larger area

How has biodiversity changed over time?

Generally increased because the rate of speciation has been higher than the rate of extinction

Why is estimating biodiversity over time difficult?

Because of fossil record is incomplete and new species are still being discovered

What happened to extinction rates in recent centuries?

They have increased due to human activities in

Why is Earth highly biodiverse

Long-term speciation has outpaced extinction over millions of years

How many mass extinctions have occurred and what is the current one called?

5, the 6th mass extinction is due to human activity and is called anthropogenic species extinction

What caused the extinction of the North Island giant Moa?

Overhunting by Polynesians within 100 years of settlement in New Zealand

Why did Caribbean monk seals go extinct?

Hunted by European colonists for oil and food; their docile nature made them easy targets

What happened to dipterocarp forests in Southeast Asia?

Lost up to 50% due to logging and land clearing for palm oil plantations

IPBES

A group that published biodiversity reports for policymakers based on scientific research

IUCN Red List

A global list that tracks the conservation status of species

What are major human-driven causes of biodiversity loss?

Overexploitation of resources, hunting, deforestation, monoculture agriculture practices, pollution, Increased pest species, invasive species, urbanization and spread of disease

What impact does monoculture agriculture have on biodiversity?

Reduces it ; ex: palm oil plantations

in Situ conservation

Protecting species in their natural habitats

Ex of In Situ Conservation methods

National Parks, nature reserves, rewinding, reclamation of degraded land

ex situ conservation

Conserving species outside their natural habitats

What are ex of ex Situ conservation methods

Zoos with breeding programs, botanic gardens, seed banks,tissue banks

animal tissue banks

Store germplasm and somatic tissue for breeding,research and potential cloning

What does EDGE stand for

Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered species

anthropogenic

extinction that has occurred in the last few hundred years can be linked to human activities

Rewilding

The practice of removing human activities from an area and allowing the area to regenerate

How the EDGE of Existence programme is used for conservation

Takes special attention to species in most need which improve biodiversity