Biodiversity




BIO326 : Community : Community Patterns : Biodiversity

Exercise: Biodiversity

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DUE: 14-Apr-2000. Work sent after this date will receive a grade of zero.

1. The World Wildlife Federation and a number of other groups have constructed a map of species richness across the terrestrial ecoregions of the U.S. and Canada.

a) What is species richness?

b) Are the data reflected in this map consistent with the general pattern of increasing species richness from high to low latitudes? Explain.

c) Ricklefs mentioned that there are generally more species in forests than in grasslands, and a surprising number of species in desert habitats. Is this pattern consistent with the WWF maps? Explain.

2. Understanding patterns of biodiversity depends largely on available data on species richness.

a) How many species of organisms have been described so far?

b) How many species do you hypothesize exist on earth? Describe the evidence that supports your hypothesis.

c) In what ways does the estimate of overall species richness depend on our information on insects?

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E-mail Professor Gaud at William.Gaud@nau.edu
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