Investigating Ecosystems & Biodiversity

Investigating Ecosystems & Biodiversity - Key SQA Definitions : 

• Abiotic

• Aadaptation

• Biodiversity

• Biological oxygen demand

• Biotic

• Biotic index

• Capture-mark-recapture

• Density

• Dissolved oxygen concentration

• Distribution 

• Diversity index, ecosystem

• Ecosystem diversity

• Frequency

• Genetic diversity

• Interquartile range

• Lincoln index

• Percentage cover

• Quadrat

• Qualitative data

• Quantitative data

• Random sampling

• Relative abundance

• Reliability

• Simple random sampling

• Simpson’s biodiversity index

• Species, species diversity

• Species richness

• Standard deviation

• Stratified random sampling

• Systematic random sampling

• Transect

• Trent biotic index

• Validity 

Assessing Biodiversity

Ecology is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment; it seeks to understand the vital connections between plants and animals and the world around them. 

The video below shows a summary of what exactly Ecology is:-

Ecology also provides information about the benefits of ecosystems and how we can use Earth’s resources in ways that leave the environment healthy for future generations. 

In order to understand how living organisms interact in the environment, first we need to understand how scientists describe living systems at increasingly smaller scales:-

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is a measure of the variety of living organisms in an ecosystem. Biodiversity is greater in ecosystems that provide a bigger range of different habitats and are home to larger populations of a variety of organisms, with the most biodiverse ecosystems being tropical rainforests.

Ecosystems with high levels of biodiversity help to provide the resources needed to sustain life, including human life. For example, novel medicines such as new antibiotics can be discovered in areas of high biodiversity.

The Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII) is a measure created to estimate the biodiversity loss across an area using a combination of land use, other human pressures and species abundance data to give a simple figure for biodiversity ‘intactness’  (how much nature is left from a pristine state). 

This analysis has been performed on 240 countries worldwide, with the countries ranked from highest BII to lowest. Scotland is ranked in the lowest 12% of 'biodiversity intactness' globally, with a value of 56%. This means that Scotland has lost nearly half of its original biodiversity as a result of human actions:-

Biodiversity Case Study (Terrestrial) : Cloud Forests

Cloud Forests are areas of incredibly high biodiversity, with Cloud Forests globally occupying only 0.4% of the land surface but containing about 15% of global diversity of birds, mammals, amphibians and tree ferns.

Cloud forests take their name due to the near-continuous fog and low-hanging clouds that hover around the upper canopy of the forest before condensing onto the leaves of trees and dripping onto the plants below. This causes a slower rate of evaporation and provides the plants with a continuous supply of moisture, without the need for soil.

This moisture helps to promote a huge amount of biodiversity, particularly within the type of plants known as epiphytes. These are plants which grow on other plants without damaging them, collecting their moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, and debris that surround them.

The Monteverde Cloud Forest in Costa Rica, for example, only covers an area of 105 km² (half the size of Glasgow) but is home to 3,200 species of plants, including 700 species of trees and 500 species of orchids, approximately 425 species of birds, 120 species of mammals, 60 species of amphibians and 101 species of reptiles. 

Biodiversity Case Study (Aquatic) : Coral Reefs

Coral Reefs have the highest biodiversity of any ecosystem on the planet. Coral Reefs cover less than 1% of the ocean floor, but contain more than 25% of all marine life.

Coral reefs are built by coral polyps as they create layers of calcium carbonate beneath their bodies to anchor them to the rock. The calcium carbonate that is created by hard corals provides a foundation for baby corals to settle upon, causing the reef to grow slowly in size. 

Coral reefs are found all around the globe, and are split into two groups:-

• Warm Water (Tropical) Reefs : These are found in warm oceans (growing best between 23–29°C) such as the waters off the coast of Australia. 

• Cold Water Reefs: These are found in much colder oceans (they are able to survive temperatures below -10°C), such as the Northern Atlantic around Scotland. 

You'd study the seas and oceans to help us learn more about the marine environment, plants and animals. You’d do research, for example, on the effects of climate change or the impact of pollution and offshore engineering on marine life. 

You would be planning and carrying out research expeditions, managing research projects and leading a team of researchers and technical staff, preparing scientific equipment at sea or in a laboratory and spending time at sea collecting data and samples or creating experiments to test your ideas in the laboratory. You could also use computers to produce models like maps of the ocean floor or populations of marine animals and collect data to observe and track changes in the marine environment. You’d write reports about your research for publication. You would present your findings to the public and other scientists.