Unit 1
Diversity of Living Things
SBI3U1
Outline
1) Types of Biodiversity
1) Importance of Biodiversity
Assessments:
Biodiversity
Biodiversity:
• Refers to the variety of life on Earth at all its levels,
from genes to ecosystems
Which community is more biodiverse?
Biodiversity
Biodiversity:
• Refers to the variety of life on Earth at all its levels,
from genes to ecosystems
Which community is more biodiverse?
Species richness and evenness are only two aspects of biodiversity!
Types of Biodiversity
There are three types of biodiversity:
1) Genetic Diversity
2) Species Diversity
3) Ecosystem Diversity
1) Genetic Diversity
Genetic Diversity:
• Variety of heritable characteristics (genes) within a
species
2) Species Diversity
Species Diversity:
• Variety (richness) and abundance (evenness) of
species in a given area
3) Ecosystem Diversity
Ecosystem Diversity:
• Variety of ecosystems found in a given area
Types of Biodiversity-
Levels of Organization
Importance of Genetic Diversity
1) Provides resistance to disease
• Lack of diversity makes a population more susceptible to
disease (extreme case: extinction)
Here are two populations of
potatoes.
The brown coloured potatoes are
susceptible to blight (fungal
illness).
What are some possible
consequences?
Importance of Genetic Diversity
2) Provides resistance against changing conditions
• Changing conditions- resource availability, climate
change, predator population, invasive species
Proportion of Winter White
What do you notice about
the proportion of white
individuals as the number
of snow covered days
increase?
Importance of Genetic Diversity
3) Supports Conservation Biology
• Human intervention, in the form of conservation
programs, is introduced to help endangered and nearly
extinct species
Elephant
Conservation Center
Importance of Species Diversity
Provides Resilience
• Within an ecosystem, the greater the species diversity, the
greater the resilience
• Resilience: ability of an ecosystem to remain functional
and stable in the presence of disturbances to its parts
Importance of Species Diversity
Exercise
The following graphs were obtained by studies conducted at the
University of Minnesota from 1982 to 1993. For each graph,
1) Identify the trend
2) Identify the importance
of this trend
Importance of Species Diversity
Importance of Ecosystem Diversity
Ecosystem Services
• Benefits experienced by organisms, including humans,
which are provided by sustainable ecosystems
Pollination
Why is pollination an
important ecosystem
service?
Importance of Ecosystem Diversity
Ecosystem Services
• Benefits experienced by organisms, including humans,
which are provided by sustainable ecosystems
Climate Regulation
How does the image
help with climate
regulation?
Importance of Ecosystem Diversity
Ecosystem Services
Homework
Read Pages 31-35
Page 37# 4-9
Graphing Assignment
