IBDP Biology: Measuring Biodiversity --- Part 1

In this topic of IBDP Biology, we will learn about Measuring Biodiversity --- Part 1.

• Environment – The conditions, in which an organism lives, composed of both biotic and abiotic factors.
• Habitat – a well-defined area, in which an organism lives.
• Population – the number of individuals of one species within a defined area at a given time.
• Community – all the populations of different species, interacting together in a habitat at a given time.
• Ecosystem – the community plus its associated physical environment.
• Biodiversity – variety of life in a region:

• Ecosystem diversity – range of different habitats within an ecosystem
• Genetic diversity – range of alleles present within a species
• Species diversity:

• The number of species in an ecosystem.
• The abundance of each species.

• IE the greater the number of species and the more even their relative abundance, the more diverse the community.

• Used as a measure of the range and numbers of species in an area.
• When it comes to IBDP Biology, I\it takes into account:
  • The number of species present
  • The number of individuals of each species.
• It can be calculated by the following formulae:

Where:         

N = total number of organisms of all species in the area
d = index of diversity
n = total number of organisms of each species in the area

Σ = sum of

Example

Population in a pond:

d = (111 x 110) / (8X7) + (20X19) + (15X14) + (20X19) + (2X1) + (10X9) + (6X5) + (30X29)

In another pond there were:

d  = 2.6

• When it comes toIBDP Biology, comparing both indices, 6.05 is an indicator of greater diversity.
• The higher number the greater the species diversity.

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