Biodiversity???

Question

okay i have to do a poster showing that i understand a standard from a worksheet. it is a project.

can anyone help me figure out understanding this standard.




a. Students know biodiversity is the sum total of different kinds of organisms and is affected by alterations of habitats.

Answer 1

The first part of the standard is about understanding what biodiversity is. Biodiversity is the number of different kinds of living things in an area. Tropical rainforests and coral reefs have very high biodiversity because they have so many different kinds of living things. A corn field or a lawn has very low biodiversity because there aren't very many different kinds of living things. It isn't how big the population is, but how many kinds.

The second part of the standard says that biodiversity is affected when habitats are altered. For instance, if a marsh is drained in order to make farm land, then the species that lived in the marsh won't be able to survive in the altered habitat. The marsh's relatively high biodiversity will be reduced. Another example would be how the biodiversity of a forest is reduced if people remove the dead trees. There are birds, insects, and fungi that need the dead trees to nest in, feed on, and so on. If those dead trees are removed, then the forest is still there, but the biodiversity is reduced.