IB ESS HL 3.1.2 Diversity and Resilience Question Bank
Explain how biodiversity can support resilience and recovery after disturbance.
- Syllabus
- First assessment 2026
- Course
- ESS HL
- Level
- HL
Explain how biodiversity can support resilience and recovery after disturbance.
Explain the ways in which species diversity and an abundance of plant and herbivore species will increase the resilience of an ecosystem.
Diversity:
a. a greater diversity of plant and herbivore species would mean there are more species to take over the role of any that would be lost/creates a more complex food web;
b. a wider variety/diversity set of plant species will support a wider range of herbivores/increase habitat diversity;
c. a wider variety/diversity of plant species will be able to exploit a wider range of abiotic conditions;
d. more plant species/greater plant diversity will be more likely to include species that will survive a change in conditions;
e. a wider variety/diversity plant species will increase interspecific competition resulting in evolution of more species;
f. a wider variety/diversity of herbivorous species will support a wider range of predators;
g. a wider variety/diversity of herbivore species will occupy a wider range of niches adding to the complexity of the system;
Abundance:
h. a greater abundance/larger populations of plant species means greater primary productivity which supports a greater abundance/larger populations of herbivores;
i. a greater abundance/larger populations of plant species is less likely to become extinct from the ecosystem;
j. a greater abundance/larger populations of herbivores will support a greater abundance/larger populations of predators;
k. a greater abundance/larger populations of herbivores will be less likely to become extinct in the ecosystem;