Biodiversity is the variety of plant and
animal life and the ecological process they
are part of.
 We
find the most biodiversity near the
equator in the tropical rainforests. We find
the most species here because the
weather is really hot and due to the huge
amount of rainfalls it stays really moist
which causes more plants to grow and
these plants act as type of food source for
the organisms living there.
Ecosystem Diversity: refers to the diversity of a place at the level of ecosystems. Examples of
ecosystem diversity would be marshes, lakes, streams and forests. A ecosystem is all the
biotic and abiotic parts of a particular environment interacting with each other.
Community Diversity: refers to a population of different species that live in the same area.
These groups of species later form a community. For example, the park contains a community
as there are other populations that live in the park beside the magpies.
Species Diversity: refers to the subtle variations between the individual members of a
population. For example, if you examined a population of magpies, really closely. You might
notice that bill shape or wingspan varied between individuals.
Genetic Diversity: refers to the variations between members of a population. In any
populations, these variations are, for the most part caused by subtle variations in the cells of
these organisms. An organism that shows a great deal of genetic diversity is the banded snail.
Species Distribution Diversity: refers to plants and animals that are not evenly distributed
throughout the ecosystems on Earth. There are more species around the equator and tropical
regions. So the tropical rain forests in equatorial regions contain the greatest biological
diversity. As you move to the north you will find less biological diversity.
Coral reefs are called the
“Amazons of the oceans”
because just like the Amazon
rainforest. Coral reefs are
extremely rich in species
diversity. Coral reefs harbor
the greatest diversity of life in
the oceans and are second
only to tropical rainforests in
the number of species found
in one area on Earth. Nearly
25% of the marine life
depends upon coral reefs for
their survival.
Interdependence is when one species
depends on the other in its environment.
The important examples of
interdependence found in nature are food
webs and food chains. These examples
are the important examples of
interdependence found in the nature
because each animal in a food chain or a
food web depends on another animal for
food source.
Food chain
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Symbiosis is the relationship between two different species. The
three kinds are:
Commensalism: one organism benefits and the other doesn’t
benefit or get harmed. An example for commensalism would be
birds making a nest on the tree. The tree is neither harmed nor
benefited but the bird gets a place to live in.
Parasitism: one organism benefits and the other is harmed. An
example for parasitism would be when mosquitoes bite people, the
mosquito gets food but on the other side we get harmed because
they carry diseases that they may pass on to us such as malaria.
Mutualism: Both organisms’ benefits. An example for mutualism
would be tiny fishes cleaning the shacks body the shark gets
cleaned while the tiny fishes get food so both benefit.
A
niche is used to describe the role an
organism plays within its community or
ecosystem it includes what it eats, what eats
it, habitat, nesting sites etc. The niche
occupied by a population in one area may
not be the same as the niche occupied in a
different area because the food supply and
competitors may be different. Niches allow
many species to exist in the same location.
An example would be a coyote in the
mountains has a niche of a scavenger due to
competition where as a coyote in Edmonton
has a niche of a predator because there is
basically no competition for the coyote.
Niches
are important in many ways.
Some are it allows many species to exist in
the same area. Niches also helps scientist
examine a particular organism as a niche
shows what the organism eats, what eats
it, its habitat etc. With niches a scientist
can study an organism and tell if the
organism will go extinct or not.
 Ecosystem: Rainforest
 Spider Monkey
 Spider Monkey live high in the canopy of the rainforest and
venture to the rainforest floor.
 Spider Monkeys will eat fruits, leaves and nuts and
occasionally insects.
 Spider Monkey are eaten by Harpy Eagles.
 Toucan
 Toucans live in holes of hollow trees.
 Toucans will eat mostly small fruit and sometimes
insects.
 Toucans are eaten by snakes, Jaguar, big cats and owls
 Parrots
 Parrots will nest in trees in tropical and sub-tropical
areas.
 Parrots eat fruits, nuts and seeds.
 Parrots are eaten by hawk, eagle, snake etc.
seldom
Niches may change in a species lifetime. Niches can
also change depending on the environment in which
it lives as well as the organisms a specie inter-relates
with. For example a tadpole becoming a frog the
niche for the tadpole don’t stay the same they change
as it becomes a frog because the frog tadpole lives in
an aquatic environment and consumes plant matter
while the adult frog lives in both aquatic and
terrestrial environments and is carnivorous.
One way a niche can change is when the
animals have to live in another
environment. For example a lion from the
wild brought to a zoo it will need to
change its niches to be able to live in the
zoo. Another way would be when it
grows from a baby to an adult. For
example a tadpole and an adult frog as
the tadpole grows into an adult frog it will
have to change its niches in order to
survive.
Resource
partitioning happens when two or more species,
niches overlap. The species then work out an arrangement
to reduce their niche size so there is no competition.
Resource partitioning doesn’t always involve food. For
example, species may have slightly different niches in
terms of nesting preferences or heat tolerance. An example
to give you a better understanding of resource partitioning
would be two monkeys that live in the forest and eat the
same fruit. Resource partitioning takes place when one
monkey chooses to forage for the fruit at the canopy (top)
of the trees while the other monkey chooses to forage near
the bottom half of the tree. They both have the same niche,
but shrink their niche down to co-exist.
1.
Variability is important because it
allows some species to survive if a
huge change comes and to
reproduce. If there is no variability
throughout an ecosystem than if a
huge change occurs than there would
be a huge amount of animals extinct.
Ecosystems are also healthier with
variation of animals throughout them.
 Natural selection is when the environment selects which
individuals will survive to reproduce. If the animal or
species are all the same they all will either survive or die. If
some animals are different than the others they will
probably survive to little changes. For humans this process
is different as humans can adapt to anything, anywhere. An
example of natural selection in our time occurred in
Southwestern Nebraska. In May 1996 a severe cold spell
gripped in the area for 6 days. Dr.Charles Brown who had
been studying the same colony of cliffs swallows for 17 years
watched about 30,000 birds, or about half of the colony die
of starvation. The other 15,000 birds could not survive the
cold or get food so they all died. The other half of the birds
were different so they survived.
If there is variation within species, some
members of that species will have different
characteristics that will help them survive changes
in the environment. If all members of that species
were to be the same and if a huge change in the
environment occurred that they could not handle.
All members of that species would mostly die. So
variation within the ecosystem can help some
organisms survive the little or huge changes.
1.
Natural selection is when the environment
selects which individuals will survive to
reproduce. This relates to variability because if a
huge change hits the environment for example it
gets really cold, all the animals would either die
or survive. Animals that couldn't survive the cold
would obviously die but animals who could
would be able to survive. This is important
because if there is variation among the species
than if a change comes than some would
survive and some would die, not all.
1)
The difference between heritable and non-heritable
is that heritable characteristics are passed on from
generation to generation. These characteristics are
passed on by genetic material during sexual
reproduction. Examples would be eye color, skin
color; hair type, or bone structure, ext. Nonheritable characteristics on the other hand are
learned or acquired. They are not necessarily
passed on from generation to generation. Examples
would be ability to play an instrument, artistic
ability, leadership skills, or skills to play sports.
 The environment can effect the characteristics like
being tanned or not having long hair or short hair that
happens because there be more hot or cold.
 Example:
 You are playing all day in the sun and you might get
tanned.
 If you are living near a equator you may shave your
hair off or you live in a cold place and some people
keep long hair.
•The difference between discrete variation and
continuous variation is that discrete variation is
that it has 2 forms either the form or that form
and continuous variation has many forms.
Example for discrete is having earlobes that are
attached or not, being able to roll your tongue or
not, being male or not having blue eyes or brown
eyes. Examples of continuous variation are height,
arm length, weight, shoe size.
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Asexual reproduction is when only one parent and offspring are identical to parents
(when the parent makes an exact copy of itself). There are four types:

Binary Fission- this happens in only single celled organism. The cell splits into two
cells, each being identical. Example bacteria, amoeba and algae.

Budding –parent organism produces a bud which detaches from parent and
becomes a self sufficient individual. Examples would be hydra, yeast and coral.

Spore production – spores are similar to seeds and are produce many spores. Each
spore turns into new individual identical to the parents. Examples fungi, molds and
ferns.
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And finally vegetative reproduction-is the reproduction of plants not involving the
seeds. This includes cutting, runners, suckers and tubers. Examples potatoes,
strawberry aspen trees, garlic and onions.
 Sexual reproduction usually involves two individual
organisms. The off spring has a mix of characteristics
half from one parent and half from the other. It doesn’t
always involve female and male parents but does involve
gametes.
 Gametes are reproductive cell that join with other cell in
reproduction. The special cells.
 Male have gametes called sperm cells and female have
gametes called egg cells. When they are combined the
form a fertilized combination of cells called zygote. The
zygote begins to divide and this division continues into
the making of an embryo. Then the embryo develops into
a multi- cellular organism inside the female or in an egg.
 Sexual reproduction also involves gametes that turn into a zygote
then that turns into an embryo. This happens when the male
gametes pollen moves from the anther to the stigma. The pollen
then travels down the stigma to the ovule the female gamete.
 The three types of pollination are:
 Cross pollination this happens when pollen from one plant
combines with the ovule of another plant. The new plant is not
identical to the parent.
 Plants self pollinate, pollen from the same plant unites with ovule of
same plant. The new plant is identical to the parent.
 Artificial pollination flowers are pollinated by humans.
 The major advantage of asexual reproduction is that it can
produce many organisms very quickly so a huge advantage
to an environments that don’t change much. The
disadvantage is that all the organisms are the same so if the
environment changes one tiny bit they all die. The major
advantage for sexual reproduction is that it has lots of
variation helping it to survive when the environment
changes. The major disadvantage is that the process takes a
lot of energy so the population is small.
 Many plants, sponges and yeasts can reproduce both
sexually and asexually. Example Aphids, slime molds, sea
anemones, some species of starfish, ext
 Biodiversity is the variety of plant an d animal life in an particular ecosystem
and the ecological processes they are part of. It is also said that with
biodiversity, ecosystems are kept more healthier.
 The process of living things passing on characteristic is called heritable, that is
passed on by the parents. They pass it by sexual reproduction which is passed
on from generations to generations. Ex. Eye color, skin color hair color, bone
structure, blood type, ext. DNA carries the genetic information in the body’s
cells. DNA is made up of four similar chemicals called adenine (A), guanine
(G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T) that are repeated over and over in pairs(A
with T and G with C). Genes are packaged in bundles called chromosomes.
Sometimes there is a mistake — one of the pairs gets switched, dropped, or
repeated. This changes the coding for one or more genes. This is called genetic
mutation. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes (for a total of 46). Of those, 1
pair is the sex chromosomes that determines whether you are male or
female,(xx is a girl and xy is a boy) and the other 22 pairs will determine the
rest of the body’s makeup.