4.2 Biodiversity

A student is investigating species richness of aquatic creatures along a river stream from upstream to downstream. They are testing the hypothesis that ‘species richness increases further downstream from the river’.

Which of the sampling methods, A to D, would the student use?

Garo Hills of Meghalaya, India has established its first gene sanctuary for wild citrus relatives. 

Which of the options, A to D, describes the type of conservation carried out at the gene sanctuary in Garo Hills of Meghalaya, India?

Simpson’s index of diversity can be calculated using the following formula:

Sampling of insect species was carried out in a back garden. The results of the sampling are shown in the table:

Which of the following is the correct Simpson’s index of diversity for the results shown above?

The genetic diversity of a population can be estimated using the following formula:

P = number of polymorphic gene loci ÷ total number of loci investigated

A study estimated the genetic diversity of four different populations of tigers. They recorded the number of gene variants at a selection of gene loci in each population. 

Which of the following populations of tigers has the greatest proportion of polymorphic gene loci?

Barnacles are small animals that live on rocky shores.

Adult barnacles are fixed to rocks and do not move about. They catch passing food in the water with modified limbs called cirri when the tide comes in.

Chthalamus stellatus is a species of barnacle found around UK shores.

Two students wished to estimate the population size of C. stellatus on a rocky shore near their school.

Which of the following could the students use for estimating the C. stellatus population?

1. an abundance scale, such as ACFOR
2. quadrat sampling
3. mark-release-recapture

Turtle doves, Streptopelia turtur, were once common in farmland in the UK but their numbers have recently been in decline.

Farmers can claim money from the UK government if they farm in ways that encourage the survival of species such as the turtle dove.

Which of the following agreements is/are relevant to the example described above?

1.  The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
2.  The Rio Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
3. The Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS)

Which of the statements, A to D, best defines the term species evenness?

Simpson's index of diversity can be calculated using the following formula:

Sampling of insect species was carried out in a back garden. The results of the sampling are shown in the table below:

Which of the following is the correct Simpson's index of diversity for the results shown above? 

The image below shows an example of a wetland habitat. Wetlands are areas of habitat that are either permanently or seasonally saturated with water. 

Bob Embleton / Lower Moor Wetland, St. Mary's. Licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en and shared via wikimedia commons

Which of the following is an ecological reason for conserving wetland biodiversity?

Which of the following measures indicate a high level of genetic diversity?

1. A gene locus that has multiple alleles, the most common of which has a frequency of 99 %
2. A high level of heterozygosity at a gene locus
3. A high value of P
4. The presence of many observable differences between phenotypes

Which of the following statements can be correctly applied to ex situ conservation?

Limpets are aquatic snails that are found in rocky shore habitats. When the tide goes out they remain stationary and seal themselves onto rocks to reduce water loss, and when the tide comes in they move slowly along the surface of the rocks to graze on algae.

A student wanted to investigate the abundance of limpets on a north facing and a south facing rocky shore. The two sites had not been studied in this way before.

Which method and type of sampling would be most appropriate for this investigation?

Two areas of farmland were studies by biologists and Simpson's index of diversity was calculated for each. 

For area A, D was calculated to be 0.86 and for area B, D was calculated to be 0.65.

Which of the following can be concluded from these results?

1. Area A has a higher species diversity than area B
2. Area A has a higher species richness than area B
3. Area A has a higher genetic diversity than area B