Biodiversity: Importance and Measurement

by John Hammond

• Biodiversity is simply

the variety of life on

Earth

• Can be used to measure the health of a system. Why is it a good measurement?

• Can be a reference to the variety in a biome, an ecosystem, or the planet Earth

Biodiversity

• 3 types of Biodiversity: Species, Genetic, and Ecosystem Diversity• Species Diversity – number of species in an area and their abundance• Ecosystem Diversity – Variation in the types of places that organisms live• Genetic diversity – number of genetic characteristics in a

species– Might be one of the most important measures of biodiversity.

Why is this?

Biodiversity, cont.

Activity 1

• All species have an important role to play• A greater diversity of species means all life forms can survive longer• Healthier, more diverse ecosystems can better react to disasters• How is this activity similar to an ecosystem?• How would this change if there were more or

less people/organisms?

Benefits of Biodiversity

• A diverse ecosystem provides many benefits: recovery, recycling of nutrients, others?• Biological resources: food, medicine, others?• Social benefits?

Activity 2

• An ecosystem that is not diverse represents a monoculture• Why didn’t the disease spread as fast in the second simulation? Which is more diverse?• Monocultures require more pesticides and herbicides. Why? For which

forest?• What would happen if you replaced all of the trees in a diverse forest with

the same species? What would happen to the wildlife that were well suited to their previous home?

• How could you help wildlife in the landscape around your own home?

Measuring Diversity

• Types of measurement: – Species Richness– Evenness– Taxonomic (hint, it has to do with organisms’ relation to each other)

• Based on the idea that (1) all species are equal, (2) all individuals within the species are equal, (3) diversity measurements are comparable (consistent)

• Why would we want to measure diversity in a single ecosystem?

Activity 3

• We will consider species richness and relative abundance for three sites

Douglas-fir

Alder

Broadleaf Maple

Madrone

• Activity 1 adapted from <http://sftrc.cas.psu.edu/LessonPlans/Wildlife/WholeCloth.html> by Stephanie L. Rau

• Activity 2 adapted from <http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/ATG/data/released/0534-KathyParis/index.php> by Kathy Paris

• Activity 3 adapted from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, “Reflections on Earth: Biodiversity and Remote Sensing” <http://www.nasm.si.edu/education/teaching_resources.cfm>

• <http://www.globalissues.org/article/170/why-is-biodiversity-important-who-cares>• <http://oregonstate.edu/trees/name_common.html>• <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiversity>• http://www.coastalwiki.org/coastalwiki/Measurements_of_biodiversity• Picture Credits

– http://marinebio.org/Oceans/Conservation/biodiversity.asp– http://coe.mse.ac.in/Biodiversity.asp– http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Fall07/McAleenan/history.html– http://www.geography4kids.com/extras/dtop_aquatic/oregon.html– http://naturallyinteresting.com/– http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/01/us-senate-goes-with-the-flow-wild-scenic-rivers-act_passes.php– http://traveloregon.mediaroom.com/index.php%3Fs%3D13%26cat%3D8

Sources