Introduction to Biodiversity | A-level Biology | OCR, AQA, Edexcel

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The key points covered of this video include:

1. Species Diversity
2. Genetic Diversity
3. Ecosystem Diversity

Species Diversity

Rather than spreading out evenly across the world, different groups of organisms live in specific habitats. A habitat is the place where an organism lives. An individual species will tend to live in the same habitat wherever it is found. A species is a group of organisms that are capable of interbreeding to produce fertile offspring. Within an ecosystem there will be many different species co-existing - they form an area’s biodiversity. Biodiversity is a measure of the variety of life in an area. Coral reefs and rainforests are examples of ecosystems with high species diversity. Species diversity refers to the number of species and the number of individuals within each species in a specified area.

Genetic Diversity

Individuals within a species are genetically quite similar which allows them to produce fertile offspring. Small genetic differences can have relatively large effects on the phenotype of an organism. Populations with high genetic diversity tend to be healthier than a highly inbred population with low genetic diversity. Genetic diversity is a measure of all the genes possessed by the individuals in a population or whole species.

Ecosystem Diversity

Habitats tend to be small. Ecosystems contain many habitats. Genetic diversity and species diversity usually measure small areas. Analysing larger areas requires looking at the ecosystem diversity of the area. Ecosystem diversity is a measure of the range of habitats on a range of scales from a small ecosystem to the whole world.

Summary

Biodiversity is a measure of the variety of life in an area
Biodiversity can be measured in a variety of ways and on a variety of different scales
Species diversity is a measure of the number of species and number of individuals within each species in an area
Genetic diversity is a measure of the variation between individuals in a population
Ecosystem diversity is a measure of the number of different habitats in an ecosystem or larger area