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Biodiversity and Evolution

This document provides an overview of key topics relating to biodiversity and evolution. It defines biodiversity and its importance, describes how biological evolution leads to changes in life over time through natural selection. The document also discusses how speciation, extinction, and human activities can impact biodiversity, identifying species diversity, genetic diversity, ecosystem diversity, and functional diversity as important components of biodiversity. Key mechanisms like natural selection, mutation, and adaptation that lead to evolution are explained.

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67 views36 pages

Biodiversity and Evolution

This document provides an overview of key topics relating to biodiversity and evolution. It defines biodiversity and its importance, describes how biological evolution leads to changes in life over time through natural selection. The document also discusses how speciation, extinction, and human activities can impact biodiversity, identifying species diversity, genetic diversity, ecosystem diversity, and functional diversity as important components of biodiversity. Key mechanisms like natural selection, mutation, and adaptation that lead to evolution are explained.

Uploaded by

autistickidd1
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Chapter 4

Biodiversity and
Evolution
Intended Learning Outcomes
At the end of this lesson, the students will be able to
Define biodiversity and its importance;
Describe how the earth changes through time;
Identify the effects of geological process and evolution;
Explain how speciation, extinction, and human activity
affect biodiversity;
Identify the roles of species in an ecosystem.
BIODIVERSITY
 BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
The variety of earth’s species,
the genes they contain, the
ecosystems in which they live
and the ecosystem processes
of energy flow and nutrient
cycling that sustain all life
WHY IS BIODIVERSITY
IMPORTANT?
It is vital to sustainability – vital part of
natural capital that helps keep us alive
and support our economies
It plays a critical role in preserving the
quality of the air and water, fertility of
the soil, decomposing and cycling of
wastes.
It provides us with food, wood, fiber,
energy and biofuels and medicines
SPECIES DIVERSITY
SPECIES –a set of individuals that can
mate and produce fertile offspring.
Every organism is a member of a certain
species with certain distinctive traits
Biologist identified about 2 million species.
More species have to be discovered and
classified
Homo sapiens - human
GENETIC BIODIVERSITY
Enables life on earth to adapt to and survive dramatic
environmental changes
GENES – coded units of information about specific traits that
are passed from parents to offspring during reproduction.
They consists of segments of DNA molecules found in
chromosomes
ECOSYSTEM DIVERSITY
The earth’s variety of deserts,
grasslands, forest, mountains,
oceans, lakes, rivers and wetlands
Each of these ecosystems is a
storehouse of genetic and species
diversity
BIOMES - major
habitations or large
ecosystems with
distinct climates and
species
FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY
Variety of processes such
as energy flow and matter
cycling that occur within
the ecosystems as species
interact with one another
in food chains and webs
SPECIES DIVERSITY
 Includes the variety and abundance of species in a
particular place
 Major component of biodiversity
 Increase the sustainability of the ecosystem
Species Diversity
SPECIES RICHNESS – the number of
different species contains in an
ecosystem

SPECIES EVENNESS – relative


abundance of individuals within
each of those species
ECOLOGICAL NICHE
 Specific ecological role performed by each species in
the ecosystem
 Includes interaction with biotic and abiotic factors.
 Different from Habitat (physical location)
In other words:
◦ Niche – species occupation
◦ Habitat - address
ECOLOGICAL NICHE
NATIVE SPECIES – those that normally live and thrive in
particular ecosystem
NONNATIVE SPECIES – or invasive, alien and exotic species -
those that migrate into, or are deliberately or accidentally
introduced into, an ecosystem
INDICATOR SPECIES – biological smoke alarm – those that
provide early warnings of damage to a community or an
ecosystem

Stoneflies: indicate high oxygen water


Mosses: indicate acidic soil
Greasewood: indicates saline soil
Lichens: some species indicate low air pollution
Fungi: Can indicate old-growth forests where an
abundance of coarse woody debris exists.
Mollusca: numerous bivalve molluscs indicate water
pollution status
Tubifex worms: indicate nonpotable, stagnant, oxygen-
poor water
KEYSTONE SPECIES

- whose role has a large effect on


the type and abundances of other
species in an ecosystem
- sustain ecosystem
- role in pollination of flowering
plants, top predator feed on and
help regulate population of other
species
Foundation Species
 Referred to as 'Ecosystem Engineers'.
 Any species that has a large
contribution towards creating and
maintaining habitats that support
other species
 Without the presence of foundation
species in an ecosystem, many other
species couldn't sustain their habitat.
Which is more important in the
ecosystem?
HOW DOES THE EARTH’S LIFE CHANGE
OVER TIME?
BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION
BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION- the process whereby earth’s changes
over time through changes in the genetic characteristics of the
population
Fossil records provide uneven and incomplete evidences
Fossils – mineralized or petrified replicas of skeletons, bones,
teeth, shell, leaves and seeds or impression of such items on rocks
THEORY OF EVOLUTION
All species
descended from
earlier, ancestral
species.
Life comes from life
NATURAL SELECTION
A mechanism for biological evolution proposed by
Charles Darwin in 1858
Evidences for the idea of evolution was gathered and
published in 1859 in the book “ On the Origin of Species
by Means of Natural selection
Scientific theory that explains how life has changed over
the past 3.5 billion years and why life is so diverse today
NATURAL SELECTION
Individual with certain traits are most likely to survive and
reproduce under a particular set of environmental
conditions than are those without the traits.
These survival traits would become more prevalent in future
populations of the species as individuals with those traits
became more numerous.
Natural Selection works through
Mutation and Adaptations.
MUTATION – random changes in the DNA molecules of a
gene in any cell that can occur spontaneously or by
exposure to external agents like radioactivity
ADAPTATION OR ADAPTIVE TRAIT – heritable trait that
improves the ability of the individual organisms to survive
and reproduce at higher rate than other individuals in a
population under prevailing environmental conditions
NATURAL SELECTION
Three things must happen:

1. Genetic variability in a trait within population

2. Trait is heritable

3. Differential reproduction – must enable individuals with the trait


to leave more offspring than others without the trait.

Adaptive (heritable) trait helps survival and reproduction under


current conditions
Survival of the fittest is not the same as survival
of strongest.
To biologist, fitness is the measure of
reproductive success, not strength.
Fittest individuals are those that leave the most
descendants
HOW DID HUMANS BECOME SUCH
A POWEFUL SPECIES?
Three Adaptations that enable human to survive:
1. Strong opposable thumbs that allows us to grip
and use tools better
2. Ability to walk upright which gives man agility and
freed our hands for many uses
3. Complex brain, which allows us to develop many
skills, including the ability to use speech and
communicate ideas
What can affect evolution?
Tectonic plate movements
Volcanic eruption
Earthquakes
Climate change
catastrophes
HOW DO SPECIATION, EXTINCTION AND
HUMAN ACTIVITIES AFFECT
BIODIVERSITY?
SPECIATION
a process in which one species splits into 2 or more different
species
Formation of new species
Phases include:
GEOGRAPHICAL ISOLATION- different groups of same
population of species become physically isolated from one
another over long period of time
REPRODUCTIVE ISOLATION – long term geographic
separation of members of a particular sexually reproducing
species
EXTINCTION
Biological Extinction – a process in which an entire species
ceases to exist
Local Extinction – a population of species becomes extinct
over a large region, but not globally

Endemic species- species that are found in only one area and
are vulnerable to extinction
Background extinction – slow rate
Mass extinction – quickly, large groups
Mass depletion – higher than mass (Ice Age)
◦ 99% of species that have existed on earth are now extinct.
Human activities can affect biodiversity
Artificial Selection – artificially selecting superior genetic traits
• Agriculture
• Hatcheries
• pets
Genetic Engineering
• Gene splicing
• Species creation in laboratories
• Takes less time than artificial selection
Concerns about Genetic Engineering
• Many failures (1% success rate)
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