By: Abhi and Jay

1. PBL Biodiversity(Topics 1-2) By: Abhi and Jay

2. Part A: Diversity

3. Biodiversity Biodiversity is the variety of plant and animal life and the ecological process they are part of.

4. Biodiversity (continued) We find the most biodiversity near the equator in the tropical rainforests. We find the most species here because the weather is really hot and due to the huge amount of rainfalls it stays really moist which causes more plants to grow and these plants act as type of food source for the organisms living there.

5. 5 components of biodiversity Ecosystem Diversity: refers to the diversity of a place at the level of ecosystems. Examples of ecosystem diversity would be marshes, lakes, streams and forests. A ecosystem is all the biotic and abiotic parts of a particular environment interacting with each other. Community Diversity: refers to a population of different species that live in the same area. These groups of species later form a community. For example, the park contains a community as there are other populations that live in the park beside the magpies. Species Diversity: refers to the subtle variations between the individual members of a population. For example, if you examined a population of magpies, really closely. You might notice that bill shape or wingspan varied between individuals. Genetic Diversity: refers to the variations between members of a population. In any populations, these variations are, for the most part caused by subtle variations in the cells of these organisms. An organism that shows a great deal of genetic diversity is the banded snail. Species Distribution Diversity: refers to plants and animals that are not evenly distributed throughout the ecosystems on Earth. There are more species around the equator and tropical regions. So the tropical rain forests in equatorial regions contain the greatest biological diversity. As you move to the north you will find less biological diversity.

6. Coral Reefs Coral reefs are called the “Amazons of the oceans” because just like the Amazon rainforest. Coral reefs are extremely rich in species diversity. Coral reefs harbor the greatest diversity of life in the oceans and are second only to tropical rainforests in the number of species found in one area on Earth. Nearly 25% of the marine life depends upon coral reefs for their survival.

7. Interdependence Food chain Interdependence is when one species depends on the other in its environment. The important examples of interdependence found in nature are food webs and food chains. These examples are the important examples of interdependence found in the nature because each animal in a food chain or a food web depends on another animal for food source.

8. Symbiosis • Symbiosis is the relationship between two different species. The three kinds are: • Commensalism: one organism benefits and the other doesn’t benefit or get harmed. An example for commensalism would be birds making a nest on the tree. The tree is neither harmed nor benefited but the bird gets a place to live in. • Parasitism: one organism benefits and the other is harmed. An example for parasitism would be when mosquitoes bite people, the mosquito gets food but on the other side we get harmed because they carry diseases that they may pass on to us such as malaria. • Mutualism: Both organisms’ benefits. An example for mutualism would be tiny fishes cleaning the shacks body the shark gets cleaned while the tiny fishes get food so both benefit.

9. Niches • A niche is used to describe the role an organism plays within its community or ecosystem it includes what it eats, what eats it, habitat, nesting sites etc. The niche occupied by a population in one area may not be the same as the niche occupied in a different area because the food supply and competitors may be different. Niches allow many species to exist in the same location. An example would be a coyote in the mountains has a niche of a scavenger due to competition where as a coyote in Edmonton has a niche of a predator because there is basically no competition for the coyote.

10. Niches (continued) • Niches are important in many ways. Some are it allows many species to exist in the same area. Niches also helps scientist examine a particular organism as a niche shows what the organism eats, what eats it, its habitat etc. With niches a scientist can study an organism and tell if the organism will go extinct or not.

11. Ecosystems and animals • Ecosystem: Rainforest • Spider Monkey • Spider Monkey live high in the canopy of the rainforest and seldom venture to the rainforest floor. • Spider Monkeys will eat fruits, leaves and nuts and occasionally insects. • Spider Monkey are eaten by Harpy Eagles. • Toucan • Toucans live in holes of hollow trees. • Toucans will eat mostly small fruit and sometimes insects. • Toucans are eaten by snakes, Jaguar, big cats and owls • Parrots • Parrots will nest in trees in tropical and sub-tropical areas. • Parrots eat fruits, nuts and seeds. • Parrots are eaten by hawk, eagle, snake etc.

12. More about Niches Niches may change in a species lifetime. Niches can also change depending on the environment in which it lives as well as the organisms a specie inter-relates with. For example a tadpole becoming a frog the niche for the tadpole don’t stay the same they change as it becomes a frog because the frog tadpole lives in an aquatic environment and consumes plant matter while the adult frog lives in both aquatic and terrestrial environments and is carnivorous.

13. More about niches (continued) One way a niche can change is when the animals have to live in another environment. For example a lion from the wild brought to a zoo it will need to change its niches to be able to live in the zoo. Another way would be when it grows from a baby to an adult. For example a tadpole and an adult frog as the tadpole grows into an adult frog it will have to change its niches in order to survive.

14. Resource partitioning • Resource partitioning happens when two or more species, niches overlap. The species then work out an arrangement to reduce their niche size so there is no competition. Resource partitioning doesn’t always involve food. For example, species may have slightly different niches in terms of nesting preferences or heat tolerance. An example to give you a better understanding of resource partitioning would be two monkeys that live in the forest and eat the same fruit. Resource partitioning takes place when one monkey chooses to forage for the fruit at the canopy (top) of the trees while the other monkey chooses to forage near the bottom half of the tree. They both have the same niche, but shrink their niche down to co-exist.

15. Variability Variability is important because it allows some species to survive if a huge change comes and to reproduce. If there is no variability throughout an ecosystem than if a huge change occurs than there would be a huge amount of animals extinct. Ecosystems are also healthier with variation of animals throughout them.

16. Natural Selection • Natural selection is when the environment selects which individuals will survive to reproduce. If the animal or species are all the same they all will either survive or die. If some animals are different than the others they will probably survive to little changes. For humans this process is different as humans can adapt to anything, anywhere. An example of natural selection in our time occurred in Southwestern Nebraska. In May 1996 a severe cold spell gripped in the area for 6 days. Dr.Charles Brown who had been studying the same colony of cliffs swallows for 17 years watched about 30,000 birds, or about half of the colony die of starvation. The other 15,000 birds could not survive the cold or get food so they all died. The other half of the birds were different so they survived.

17. Variatbility (continued) • If there is variation within species, some members of that species will have different characteristics that will help them survive changes in the environment. If all members of that species were to be the same and if a huge change in the environment occurred that they could not handle. All members of that species would mostly die. So variation within the ecosystem can help some organisms survive the little or huge changes.

18. Natural Selection (continued) Natural selection is when the environment selects which individuals will survive to reproduce. This relates to variability because if a huge change hits the environment for example it gets really cold, all the animals would either die or survive. Animals that couldn't survive the cold would obviously die but animals who could would be able to survive. This is important because if there is variation among the species than if a change comes than some would survive and some would die, not all.

19. Part B: Reproduction and Characteristics

20. Heritable and Non-Heritable • The difference between heritable and non-heritable is that heritable characteristics are passed on from generation to generation. These characteristics are passed on by genetic material during sexual reproduction. Examples would be eye color, skin color; hair type, or bone structure, ext. Non-heritable characteristics on the other hand are learned or acquired. They are not necessarily passed on from generation to generation. Examples would be ability to play an instrument, artistic ability, leadership skills, or skills to play sports.

21. How environment can affect characteristics • The environment can effect the characteristics like being tanned or not having long hair or short hair that happens because there be more hot or cold. • Example: • You are playing all day in the sun and you might get tanned. • If you are living near a equator you may shave your hair off or you live in a cold place and some people keep long hair.

22. Discrete and Continuous Variation • The difference between discrete variation and continuous variation is that discrete variation is that it has 2 forms either the form or that form and continuous variation has many forms. Example for discrete is having earlobes that are attached or not, being able to roll your tongue or not, being male or not having blue eyes or brown eyes. Examples of continuous variation are height, arm length, weight, shoe size.

23. Asexual reproduction is when only one parent and offspring are identical to parents (when the parent makes an exact copy of itself). There are four types: • Binary Fission- this happens in only single celled organism. The cell splits into two cells, each being identical. Example bacteria, amoeba and algae. • Budding –parent organism produces a bud which detaches from parent and becomes a self sufficient individual. Examples would be hydra, yeast and coral. • Spore production – spores are similar to seeds and are produce many spores. Each spore turns into new individual identical to the parents. Examples fungi, molds and ferns. • And finally vegetative reproduction-is the reproduction of plants not involving the seeds. This includes cutting, runners, suckers and tubers. Examples potatoes, strawberry aspen trees, garlic and onions. Asexual reproduction

24. Sexual Reproduction (science explanation) • Sexual reproduction usually involves two individual organisms. The off spring has a mix of characteristics half from one parent and half from the other. It doesn’t always involve female and male parents but does involve gametes. • Gametes are reproductive cell that join with other cell in reproduction. The special cells. • Male have gametes called sperm cells and female have gametes called egg cells. When they are combined the form a fertilized combination of cells called zygote. The zygote begins to divide and this division continues into the making of an embryo. Then the embryo develops into a multi- cellular organism inside the female or in an egg.

25. Sexual reproduction in plants • Sexual reproduction also involves gametes that turn into a zygote then that turns into an embryo. This happens when the male gametes pollen moves from the anther to the stigma. The pollen then travels down the stigma to the ovule the female gamete. • The three types of pollination are: • Cross pollination this happens when pollen from one plant combines with the ovule of another plant. The new plant is not identical to the parent. • Plants self pollinate, pollen from the same plant unites with ovule of same plant. The new plant is identical to the parent. • Artificial pollination flowers are pollinated by humans.

26. Asexual and sexual reproduction • The major advantage of asexual reproduction is that it can produce many organisms very quickly so a huge advantage to an environments that don’t change much. The disadvantage is that all the organisms are the same so if the environment changes one tiny bit they all die. The major advantage for sexual reproduction is that it has lots of variation helping it to survive when the environment changes. The major disadvantage is that the process takes a lot of energy so the population is small. • Many plants, sponges and yeasts can reproduce both sexually and asexually. Example Aphids, slime molds, sea anemones, some species of starfish, ext

27. Driving Question • Biodiversity is the variety of plant an d animal life in an particular ecosystem and the ecological processes they are part of. It is also said that with biodiversity, ecosystems are kept more healthier. • The process of living things passing on characteristic is called heritable, that is passed on by the parents. They pass it by sexual reproduction which is passed on from generations to generations. Ex. Eye color, skin color hair color, bone structure, blood type, ext. DNA carries the genetic information in the body’s cells. DNA is made up of four similar chemicals called adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T) that are repeated over and over in pairs(A with T and G with C). Genes are packaged in bundles called chromosomes. Sometimes there is a mistake — one of the pairs gets switched, dropped, or repeated. This changes the coding for one or more genes. This is called genetic mutation. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes (for a total of 46). Of those, 1 pair is the sex chromosomes that determines whether you are male or female,(xx is a girl and xy is a boy) and the other 22 pairs will determine the rest of the body’s makeup.