Transcript Biological Diversity

Biological Diversity
• biodiversity refers to all the different
kinds of life (or different species) on Earth
– there are over 3 million species on Earth…
but half a million have not been classified
• species is a group of similar organisms
that can reproduce together to produce
viable offspring
– there is variation within species though…
e.g. different hair or eye color, height…
– variation improves survivability
Classifying Biological Diversity
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Kindoms
(mostly single-cell organisms)
Related species can have the same genus
name but not the same species name:
e.g Canis lupus (wolf) and Canis familiaris (dog)
(bacteria)
Distribution of Biodiversity
Ecosystems
2:48
• the whole Earth’s surface consists of a
series of interconnected ecosystems
• an ecosystem is an area where climate,
landscape, plants and animals all interact
together in a unique way
• ecosystems consist of 2 components
– abiotic: non living features of the area
– biotic: living organisms in the area
• Broad Niche (Generalists)
• Narrow Niche (Specialists)
Resource Partitioning
• Three warbler species
feed on spruce
budworm.
• The tree is the
habitat.
• Each has a unique
niche where they
prefer to gather food.
• There is some
overlap of niche
Populations & Communities
• a population is all the members of a
species that are living in the same area
and sharing resources
• a community is populations of different
species that share a common area
6:40
Competition and Sharing
• species are continuously interacting with
each other within their environments
– food chains represent this interaction
• most interactions between species are
brief… generally for the purpose of getting
food
• but some species have longer term
relationships → these are called
symbiotic relationships
Symbiotic Relationships
Commensalism
Mutualism
Parasitism
parasite & host