Biodiversity AQA AS

BIODIVERSITY is a general term used to decribe variety in the living world. Refers to the number and variety of living organisms in a particular area and has 3 components:

• GENETIC DIVERSITY: Variety of genes possessed by the individuals that make up a species

• ECOSYSTEM DIVERSITY: Range of different HABITATS within a particular area

• SPECIES DIVERSITY: Number of different species and the number of individuals of each species within any one community. Has two components:
  • Number of different species in a given area
  • Proportion of the community that is made up of an individual species

The proportion in a community is important as 2 communities may have the same number of species BUT one community may have more % of a species than another.

Measuring species diversity helps get a more accurate picture of an habitat. CAN COMPARE HABITATS BETTER as they may have the same no. of species and no. of individuals BUT different species diversity. 

d = species diversity index

N = total number of organisms of ALL species

n = total number of organisms of EACH species - HAVE TO WORK THIS OUT IN A SEPARATE COLUMN 

E (sign) = the sum of

The answer will be a decimal point. THE HIGHER THE D VALUE, GREATER SPECIES DIVERSITY