LWB: Overview 📖

The Living World: Biodiversity

Introduction

Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth at all its levels, from genes to ecosystems, and can encompass the evolutionary, ecological, and cultural processes that sustain life. Biodiversity is important to environmental science because it provides many benefits and services to humans and other living beings, such as food, medicine, pollination, climate regulation, water purification, nutrient cycling, and cultural values. Biodiversity also helps maintain the health and resilience of ecosystems that support life on Earth.

 

Learning Objectives

In this module, you will learn how to....

  • Explain...
    • levels of biodiversity and their importance to ecosystems.
    • how natural disruptions, both short- and long-term, impact an ecosystem.
  • Describe...
    • ecosystem services.
    • the results of human disruptions to ecosystem services.
    • island biogeography.
    • the role of island biogeography in evolution.
    • ecological tolerance.
    • how organisms adapt to their environment.
    • ecological succession.
    • the effect of ecological succession on ecosystems.

 

Module Lessons Preview

In this module, each lesson will focus on teaching you the following topics:

Introduction to Biodiversity (⏳ 6 - 8 mins): Biodiversity is essential for the resilience and health of ecosystems, contributing to ecological stability, adaptability, and the provision of vital services that support life on Earth.

Ecosystem Services (⏳ 4 - 6 mins): Ecosystem services provide essential resources such as clean water, pollination of crops, and climate regulation, underlining the interconnected relationship between healthy ecosystems and the sustainability of societies.

Island Biogeography (⏳ 5 - 7 mins): Island biogeography reveals how factors like island size and isolation influence biodiversity dynamics, aiding efforts to protect and manage ecosystems worldwide.

Ecological Tolerance (⏳ 3 - 5 mins): Ecological tolerance defines an organism's ability to withstand environmental variations, influencing its distribution and survival, and providing insights into ecosystem dynamics and resilience.

Natural Disruptions to Ecosystems (⏳ 8 - 10 mins): Natural disruptions to ecosystems promote biodiversity, drive evolutionary processes, and maintain ecological balance by allowing for adaptation and resilience in response to environmental changes.

Adaptations (⏳ 9 - 11 mins): Adaptations enable species to survive and thrive in the face of environmental changes.

Ecological Succession (⏳ 7 - 9 mins): Ecological succession facilitates the gradual transition of species and structures over time, ultimately enhancing resilience, biodiversity, and overall ecosystem stability.

 

AP Classroom Connection

This module aligns to Unit 2 in AP Classroom. You can view AP Daily videos, progress checks, and topic questions in AP Classroom. Topic Alignment:

          • Biodiversity and Ecosystems: 2.1 - 2.4
          • Ecosystem Disruptions: 2.5 - 2.7

This module is 6-8% of the AP Environmental Science Exam.

 

Textbook Alignment

This module aligns with the following modules/chapters in your AP Environmental Science textbook:

📚 Introduction to Biodiversity (Topic 2.1): Ch. 1, Module  1; Ch. 3, Module 8; Ch. 5, Modules 14, 17

📚 Ecosystem Services (Topic 2.2): Ch. 1, Module 1; Ch. 10, Module 29; Ch. 18, Module 59; Ch. 20, Module 65

📚 Island Biogeography (Topic 2.3): Ch. 6, Module 19-20; Ch. 18, Module 59

📚 Ecological Tolerance (Topic 2.4): Ch. 5, Module 17

📚 Natural Disruptions to Ecosystems (Topic 2.5): Ch. 18, Module 59, 61; Ch. 19, Module 63-64

📚 Adaptations (Topic 2.6): Ch. 5, Module 15

📚 Ecological Succession (Topic 2.7): Ch. 1, Module 1-2; Ch. 6, Module 20-21; Ch. 14, Module 41

These modules/chapters cover content found in this module and offer practice videos, questions, and flash cards.

 Key Terms (click to reveal)

🖨 Click here to download a PDF of the Living World- Biodiversity Key Terms Links to an external site.

        • Adaptations: Traits or characteristics that help an organism survive and reproduce in its environment.

        • Background Extinction: The ongoing, low-level rate of natural extinction that occurs as a normal part of the evolutionary process.

        • Biodiversity: The variety of life in a particular habitat, including the number of different species, their genetic variability, and the ecosystems they form.

        • Climax Ecosystem: A stable and mature community that undergoes little or no change in species composition over time.

        • Cultural Ecosystem Service: Benefits that ecosystems provide to humans, including aesthetic, spiritual, educational, and recreational values.

        • Directional Selection: Natural selection that favors individuals at one extreme of a phenotypic range, leading to a shift in the overall characteristics of a population.

        • Disruptive Selection: Natural selection that favors individuals at both extremes of a phenotypic range, leading to increased genetic diversity within a population.

        • Ecological Succession: The gradual process of change in the composition of a community over time, often following a disturbance.

        • Ecological Tolerance: The range of environmental conditions within which a species can survive and reproduce.

        • Ecosystem Services: The benefits that humans obtain from ecosystems, including provisioning services, regulating services, supporting services, and cultural services.

        • Gene Flow: The transfer of genetic material from one population to another, reducing genetic differences between the populations.

        • Generalist: A species with a broad ecological niche and the ability to thrive in a variety of environmental conditions.

        • Genetic Diversity: The variety of genes within a population or species.

        • Genetic Drift: Changes in the frequency of a gene variant in a population due to random events rather than natural selection.

        • Habitat Diversity: The variety of habitats within a particular region.

        • Indicator Species: Species whose presence, absence, or abundance reflects the overall health of an ecosystem.

        • Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis: The idea that moderate levels of disturbance can foster higher species diversity than low or high levels of disturbance.

        • Invasive Species: Non-native species that, when introduced to a new environment, cause harm to the ecosystem, economy, or human health.

        • Island Biogeography: The study of the distribution and abundance of species on islands and other isolated areas.

        • Keystone Species: A species that has a disproportionately large impact on its environment relative to its abundance.

        • Migration: The seasonal movement of organisms from one region to another.

        • Natural Selection: The process by which traits that enhance an organism's fitness and survival are passed on to future generations.

        • Non-random Mating: Individuals with certain traits are more likely to mate with each other, leading to changes in the frequency of traits in a population.

        • Pioneer Species: The first species to colonize a previously disrupted or barren ecosystem.

        • Primary Succession: The colonization and establishment of life in an area that was previously devoid of life.

        • Population Bottleneck: A sharp reduction in the size of a population due to a sudden environmental change.

        • Provisioning Ecosystem Service: Products obtained from ecosystems, such as food, water, and medicine.

        • Regulating Ecosystem Service: The role of ecosystems in regulating processes such as climate, disease, and water purification.

        • Resilience: The ability of an ecosystem to recover from disturbances.

        • Secondary Succession: The process of ecological succession that occurs in an area where an existing community has been partially or completely destroyed.

        • Sexual Selection: Natural selection arising through preference by one sex for certain characteristics in individuals of the other sex.

        • Specialist: A species with a narrow ecological niche and specific habitat requirements.

        • Species Diversity: The variety of species within a particular region.

        • Species Evenness: The relative abundance of each species in a community.

        • Species Richness: The total number of different species in a community.

        • Stabilizing Selection: Natural selection that favors individuals with intermediate phenotypes, reducing phenotypic variation.

        • Supporting Ecosystem Service: Ecosystem services necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services, such as nutrient cycling and soil formation.

        • Survival of the Fittest: The concept that individuals with traits that enhance their survival and reproduction are more likely to pass those traits on to future generations.

 

 

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