1. 4.1.1 Biodiversity
The variety of life

2. Biodiversity Whiteboard Activity
A: Everyone will be one type of tree
Douglas Fir (Write a D on your whiteb0ard)
Walk around and write down 3 peoples names on your board
Go back to you seat and remain standing
A disease will now infect one and spread among the trees
B: We will now be different trees (Repeat Steps in A)
Douglas Fir (D)
Nobel Fir (N)
Western Red Cedar (C)
Maple (M)
Hemlock (H)
White fir (W)
Lodge Pine (L)
White Pine (WP)
Western Dogwood (WD)

3. Important Terms
Biodiversity: The amount of different species living in an area.
Genetic Diversity: Different genetic characteristics of a species.
Cheetah populations have very low diversity, due to inbreeding

4. Important Terms Species Diversity:
The number of species or organisms per unit area found in different habitats of the planet.

5. Important Terms
Habitat Diversity: The amount of habitats or niches in a given area
Variety of forests, deserts, grasslands, lakes, oceans, coral reefs, wet lands, and other biological communities.
Chaparral Coniferous forest dessert grasslands deciduous forest

6. Biodiversity: Why should we care?
Diverse ecosystems are more stable and more healthy
More resistant to damage from factors like climate change and spread of disease
Provides important ecological services to humans
Biodiversity is useful to us as humans
Recreation
Food
Goods
Medicine

7. Pre-Assessment Questions (Write on Loose leaf paper)
How do you think diversity changes during succession?
Do you think a more complex ecosystem is more or less stable?
How could human activities (agriculture, mining…) impact biodiversity?
What are the potential positive and negative results of human activities that reduce diversity?
How might habitat diversity impact species diversity and genetic diversity?

8. Ecological Services of Biodiversity
Flow of material, energy in the biosphere
Photosynthesis
Pollination
Soil formation and maintenance
Nutrient cycling
Moderation of weather extremes
Purification of air and water

9. Important “stuff” From biodiversity
Food, fuel, ecosystems, species, fiber, lumber, paper….
90% of all food crops
40% of all medicines and 85% of all antibiotics
Pacific Yew – Taxol (cancer drug)
Willow Tree - Aspirin

10. Biodiversity of Species

11. Natural Selection

12. Darwin Natural Selection
Important Terms
Evolution: A change in the gene pool of a population over time
Natural Selection: Process by which individuals that are better suited to their environment survive and reproduce more successfully.
Adaptation: An inherited characteristic that increases an organism’s chance of survival.

13. Darwin's Research Studies 13 species of finches on Galapagos Islands
Looked a beak size and shape:
Stout beaks for eating seeds
Short and sharp beaks for eating insects.
Woodpecker-like beak for eating insects from trees, but instead of a long tongue it uses a cactus spine held in its beak to remove its prey.

14. Darwin’s Finches

15. Darwin’s Theory
Based on his observations he proposed that the evolution of species occurs by Natural selection.
Occurred due to:
Variation within populations (Genetic Diversity)
Overproduction of offspring (J and S curves)
Struggle for existence (Competition/ Limited resources)
Unequal survival and reproduction rates (R and K)

16. Population of Organisms
Overproduction of Offspring
Mutations & Sexual Reproduction produces variations among offspring.
Limited resources leads to a struggle for survival between offspring.
Survivors reproduce more successfully.
Population changes over time.

17. What is a species?
Species: A group of interbreeding populations, with a common gene pool, which are reproductively isolated.
It’s not all about looks!
Different Species:
They do not
Interbreed,
because they
have different
songs.
Western Medowlark
Eastern Medowlark

18. What is a species…
Species definition was made by humans, and fails to fully define nature.
These two ants look different are the same species of ant fulfilling different roles in a colony.
Pheidole barbata

19. Species definition is not always black and white Are we the same?+

20. Photo: Wiki Commons/GNU
ZONKEY
Photo: Wiki Commons/GNU

21. Are we the same? +

22. LIGER!
Other hybrids: Wholpin, beefalo, cama, boblynx and leopon

23. Speciation due to isolation
The islands are close enough to allow migration and cause distinct island populations to arise.
But the distances between the islands is great enough to reduce interbreeding between islands
This has made possible the formation of distinctive species on the islands
Speciation in grand canyon

24. Speciation of salamanders due to geographic isolation

25. Speciation occurred on the earth over a very long period of time when the continents slowly drifted apart.
This leads to geographic isolation
Continental Drift Animation

26. Process of Natural Selection
Organisms became isolated on various continents which restricted interbreeding populations
Without the opportunity to interbreed and the slowly changing climatic conditions organisms “evolve” into a new species over time.
This leads to “survival of the fittest”
Fitness: Organisms that are better suited to survive and reproduce

27. Discussion Question
Why does Australia have such strange animals??

28. Evolutionary Timeline of mammals
Platypus (Monotreme)
Dingo (Placental Mammal)
Kangaroo (Marsupial)