Measuring Biodiversity

Biodiversity, according to the Convention of Biological Diversity, is: "the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are a part; this includes diversity within species, between species, and of ecosystems." Biodiversity is very important part of the environment since it helps it regulates the balance and the reusing and recycling of energy and materials within the ecosystem.

To study a certain area biodiversity needs to be measured. To measure biodiversity, we usually focus on 5 ways: Species richness, species evenness, disparity, species rarity, and genetic variability.

• Species richness: refers to the total number of members of a given species in a quantified area.

• Species Evenness: he degree to which the number of individual organisms are evenly divided between different species of the community.
• Disparity: measures the phenotypic differences among species resulting from the differences genes within a population.
• Species Rarity: the rarity of individual organisms within a quantified are.
• Genetic Variability: each population of species contributes to additional biodiversity due to variations between genes

There are other ways to measure biodiversity that combine richness and equitability. Most ecologist use the Shannon-Weiner or Information index:

that only means that you need to get the proportion of the specie to the whole and then multiply that number by its natural logarithm. 

For additional information go to:

http://www.denniskalma.com/biodiversitymeasurement.html for examples

The encyclopedia of earth: http://www.eoearth.org/article/biodiversity

Nature.com: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v405/n6783/full/405212a0.html

Classifying Organisms

Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of classifying organisms. Carol von Linne, mostly known as Carolus Linnaeus, was the Swedish botanist who began working on a system for the classification of organisms. This system evolved and became the most common system used today. The system consists of organizing different groups which are inside other groups. Each organism would be labeled with a species, related species would be organized in the same genus, similar genera would be in the same family, then families in an order, orders in a class, classes in a phylum (or a division), and phyla in a kingdom.

The Kingdoms, which are the largest groups, were only two in the beginning but have developed and now 6 Kindoms are usually accepted: Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protista, Monera, Archaea. 

• Kingdom Monera: Prokaryotes; Bacteria; May have fungus, plant, or animal characteristics; includes Eubacteria and Cyanobacteria; around 10,000 species
• Kingdom Archaea: Prokaryotes; always unicellular and living under rough or extreme conditions and environments; different chemical characteristics than Monera
• Kingdom Protista: Slime molds and algae; mostly unicellular; eukaryote; around 250,000 species
• Kingdom Fungi: Mushrooms, molds, mildew; multicellular; heterotrophic; almost never capable of movement; 100,000 species
• Kingdom Plantae: Multicellular and eukaryotes; producers of complex molecules using light (photosynthesis); 250,000 species
• Kingdom Animalia: Multicellular and eukaryotes; without cell walls which reduces stiffness; unable to produce food, need to take energy from external sources; 1,000,000 species (largest kingdom) 

A very important part of the classification are the homologous structures. Internal structures which may be similar to those of other organisms may help classify the groups. Characteristics such as reproduction methods, backbone existence, type of food consumed, body parts and covering, and others may also help in the grouping. There are other three ways of classifying including: systematics, cladistics, and molecular evolutionary taxonomy. Systematics and Cladistics use tree diagrams to explain relationships between organisms and find their way to a common ancestor. The difference between these two is that cladistics usually divide the branches when special traits are found. Molecular Evolutionary Taxonomy classifies by the presence of specific genetic changes in organisms. Still the anatomical classification (Linnaeus method) is the most common. It keeps changing because of the new discoveries available because of new technology.

A common example of Linnaeus's method are humans:

• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Mammalia
• Order: Primata
• Family: Hominidae
• Genus: Homo
• Species: sapiens sapiens

A species is the one who breed exclusively inside a group and produces fertile offspring. The name of the species would be used with the genus name in the binomial nomenclature to make up the official name of a certain organism. In the past example the species's name would be Homo sapiens sapiens.

Reviewing Concepts

What is a system?
A system is a group of interrelated elements that work together and form a unified whole. They can be closed, open or isolated.


Types of Ecosystems
There are many different ecosystems ranging from aquatic to terrestrial. Some of them include: the Tundra, Taiga, Savanna, Tropical Rain Forest, Desert, Desert Shrub, Deep Ocean, Estuaries, Template Forests, etc. Each of these types is different in temperature, rain fall, fauna, flora, latitude, altitude, and many other elements. 


Trophic Levels
Trophic levels are the position of an organism in a food change. Starting with producers, which make up the first level, to herbivores, second level also called primary consumers, to carnivores which make up the rest of the levels, usually secondary or tertiary consumers depending on the level. Not every food chain has the same number of levels, it depends on the amount of organisms which participate in it. 


Example:
1st level: Grass (producer) ---> 2nd level: Snowshoe Hare (primary consumer)---> 3rd level: Lynx (secondary consumer)


THE TAIGA!
The taiga is an ecosystem located in northern latitudes beneath the tundra. It is usually found in Canada, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Norway and the extreme northern parts of the United States. In this ecosystem temperatures range from -54°C to 30°C throughout the year. Snow and ice usually appear in winter, which occurs most of the year since summer is really short. During summer the air is humid which allows vegetation to grow, but in general there is a very small amount of precipitation and winters are very dry. Vegetation in the lower parts include a large amount of trees and mos but in higher parts trees are sparse and lichens are more common. Animals include the snowshoe hare, lynx, wolfs, bears, moose, deer, owls, eagles, raccoons, etc. 
The trees and small lichens that live in the taiga are the producers of most of the energy that is used in the taiga. There are lots of different omnivores and herbivores which eat these plants and store the energy so carnivores can take it. The matter flow is generally moderated by decomposer organisms like fungi and bacteria. Decaying bodies from plants and animals are broken down by them so that matter is recycled. During winter both energy and matter flow decreases because of the migration of many of the species to other warmer places. 

And it Begins!

Hi! My name is Sofía and I'm an IB student in Monterrey, Mexico. Today my teacher asked us to create a blog in which we would include all the evidence will be gathering and learing during the course. I'm not really sure how it will work, but I'm very excited!