Biodiversity and Conservation Bio-3/13/25

primary producers

• autotrophs or self-feeders

• can synthesize their own food from inorganic sources

  • usually solar energy

• primary producers of chemical energy

  • cellular respiration

  • growth and reproduction

• NPP=GPP-R

  • R: energy either used in cellular respiration or lost

  • NPP total amount of chemical energy that is stored in organic material

  • consumers: eat living organisms

  • decomposers: obtain energy by feeding on the remains of other organisms or waste products

  • trophic structure

biodiversity=biological diversity

solutions to preserve genetic diversity

• education

• conservation

• wildlife corridors

• genetic restoration

• seed banks

• designing effective protected areas

• ecosystem restoration

• management plans for invasive species

• management plans for threatened species

• quantifying ecosystem services

genetic diversity

• total genetic information contained within all individuals of the population, species or group of species

• measure in number and relative frequencies of all genes present in a sample

• genome sequencing: research protocol that sequences the entire genome of multiple members of the same species

  • represents adaptive capacity of population

• environmental sequencing: research protocol that sequences all or most of the eDNA

  • documents diversity even if species present is unknown

species diversity

• species richness: count of how many species are present in a defined area

• species diversity: weights measure that incorporates both richness and evenness

• Shannon index

• DNA barcoding: using characterized gene sequences to distinguish species

• phylogenetic diversity: some species give a community evolutionary distinctiveness because they are phylogenetically distant from other species

• functional diversity: play key role in function of ecosystem

ecosystem diversity

• horizontal diversity: number of species that occur within each trophic level

• vertical diversity: number of trophic levels

• trophic level:

• ecosystem function: sum of biological and chemical processes

• endemic species: species found in a particular area and nowhere else

• biodiversity hotspot: urgent need for conservation action

causes of extinction

• habitat loss

  • logging, burning, damming rivers, dredging estuaries

• overexploitation

  • unsustainable removal of organisms from the natural environment by humans

• invasive species

• climate change

  • pollution