Study Guide January 13, 2011
Measuring Biodiversity AND Introduction to Extinction and Habitat
Reading: TEXT Chapters 7, 8, 9
1) Be sure that you understand the terms and methods for determining:
Richness, evenness, diversity, similarity
Do the problems on the salmon pink handout!
2) What are the limitations of calculations of diversity – what DON’T they tell us?
3) Here is a table of allele frequencies for the following dataset for the Club
Moss,
Lycopodium lucidulum (Levin and Crepet, 1973): Which sites are the most
similar?
Which are the most diverse? Which two sites would benefit the most from
interbreeding?
4) What are the strengths and limitations of the area-species relationship?
5) Why is the Island Biogeography Model important? What are its limitations and
what are the alternatives?
6) What are the IUCN categories for species status and how are they assigned to
a species?
7) Why are some species more vulnerable to extinction than others?
8) Define and compare the terms “rare” and “endemic.”
9) Define and compare the terms “resistance” and “resilience.”
10) Define and compare the terms “habitat loss”, “habitat fragmentation”, and
“habitat degradation”.
11) What is being done to address habitat loss and fragmentation in Southern
Ontario? What is the Carolinian Forest and what is the Big Picture Network?
See http://www.carolinian.org/ConservationPrograms_BigPicture.htm
12) What are the main threats to biodiversity and which apply to your Case
Study?
13) What is the ecological footprint of Toronto and how does it compare to the
actual area of the GTA? See
http://www.canadianarchitect.com/asf/perspectives_sustainibility/measures_of_s
ustainablity/measures_of_sustainablity_footprint.htm
ARE YOU Presenting on Extinction and Habitat?
FOR YOUR PRESENTATIONS AND CASE STUDY CHAPTERS
1) Find out about extinct and endangered species – which are endemic? Which
are rare? Keystone?
2) Understand why these species are extinct or endangered
3) Know your key habitats and what types of damage or change these habitats
are facing
4) Know your key ecosystem processes, including guilds, food chains and webs,
keystones species, keystone processes such as fire and flood, etc. Are
interruptions of these processes having a negative effect on species fitness or
ecosystem function?
5) Are the area-species model and Island Biogeography Model relevant to your
case study topic? If yes, what do the area-species model and the Island
Biogeography Model predict for numbers of species and rates of extinction for
your Case Study? If no, what other approaches can you use to predict extinction
rates?
Lists of species by country:
http://www.unep-wcmc.org/isdb/Taxonomy/
IUCN red list status of species:
http://www.iucnredlist.org/