USU 1350

Biodiversity
- all of plants and animals in area (species richness)
- consider interactions
- scale is important
Levels of biodiversity
- genetic
- species
- ecosystem
Reasons to Maintain Biodiversity
- ethical/aesthetic
- economic
- ecological
ethical/aesthetic
- human moral obligation
- part of system
- lack of understanding
economic
- domestic stock from wild
- plants and animals
- meds
- food
- natural products - wood
ecological interactions
- oxygen cycle
- nitrogen cycle
- hydrologic cycle
- pollination
- soil formation
- decomposers
genetic diversity
- amount of genetic variation between individuals in same species
- most fundamental
- limited gd: extinction
Species Diversity
- fundamental biological groups of distinct organisms on earth
- same species-share gene pool
genera

two or more similar types of species
vertebrates

animals with backbone
Bryophytes

mosses, liverworts, and hornworts
Gymnosperms

naked seed plants
angiosperm

flowering plants
fungi

mushroom, lichen
Endemism

species found nowhere else
Ecosystem Diversity

the different kinds of ecological complexes made up of species
why should we maintain bio diversity
- moral obligations
- enjoyment for diversity
- provides humanity with many direct benefits with potential for more
- need of wide range of services provided by biodiversity

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Card Set

USU 1350

Description

Unit 3

Updated

2010-07-01T05:35:12Z

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