2.1 Introduction to Biodiversity

Explain levels of biodiversity and their importance to ecosystems.

• Biodiversity in an ecosystem includes genetic, species, and habitat diversity.
• The more genetically diverse a population is, the better it can respond to environmental stressors. Additionally, a population bottleneck can lead to a loss of genetic diversity.
• Ecosystems that have a larger number of species are more likely to recover from disruptions.
• Loss of habitat leads to a loss of specialist species, followed by a loss of generalist species. It also leads to reduced numbers of species that have large territorial requirements.
• Species richness refers to the number of different species found in an ecosystem.
• Enduring understanding ERT-2: Ecosystems have structure and diversity that change over time.