Biological Diversity

Effects of the environment on organisms

Abiotic factors

 Non-living components
 Determine the distribution of organism
 Examples: climate, shelter, water, solar energy, pollutants & chemicals

Biotic factors

 Living components
 Influence one another by being part of each other’s environment
 Examples: living organisms, competition, predation & disease

Ecology definitions

 Abundance: no. of individuals/unit of area

 Distribution: spread of population numbers
 Topography: shape of land
 Aspect: direction a slope faces
 Altitude: height of a landmass above sea level
 Individual: single organism
 Species: group of organisms that can reproduce together
 Population: group of individuals that are the same species
 Community: different species living and interacting together
 Ecosystem: communities or organisms interacting with one another and their surroundings
 Biomes: group of communities that have similar structures and habitats extending over a large area
 Biosphere: sum of all ecosystems of Earth
 Habitat: part of an ecosystem where an organism lives, feeds and reproduces
 Keystone species: species that play critical roles in the structure and functioning of an ecosystem
 Organism tolerance: organism’s ability to survive within the physical conditions of the environment.

Trophic relationships

 Food chains show flow of energy

 Producer  make their own food through photosynthesis (autotrophic)
 Consumers  eat other organisms (heterotrophic), three types:
- Herbivore – plant
- Carnivore – meat
- Omnivore – both
 Decomposer  break down dead organisms & wastes, returns vital nutrients to soil

Symbiotic relationships

 Allelopathy = Plant relationship. A plant produces chemicals that can be harmful or give benefit to another
plant
 Parasitism = one benefited, other disadvantaged
 Mutualism = both benefit
 Commensalism = one benefited, other not harmed

Population changes

 Exponential growth = populations are not limited by resources, predators or disease, they can experience
continual, unlimited growth
  Births and immigration = increase in population size
 Deaths and emigration = decrease in population size

Cane toads

Origin  South & Central America

Introduction to  1935 – to control greyback can beetle in sugar cane plantations
Aus
Features  Feed mainly at night
 Eat insects, snails, small mammals and reptiles, opportunistic foods
 Water absorbed through skin
 No known predators
 Fast reproduction year round  3000 eggs at a time – hatch within 3 days
Distribution  Original release – northern Queensland – quickly spread
 ‘frontline’ travelling at 60km/year
 102 toads turned into 200 million
Impact  Glands on toads shoulders produce bufotoxic
 When ingested  rapid heartbeat, hypersalivation, convulsions and paralysis
 Native predators declined e.g. kookaburras, northern quolls and goannas
Control/solution  Humane disposal of cane toads & their eggs
 Conservationists made efforts to protect affected species
 Species affected evolved with adaptations in response e.g. red-bellied black snake
 Population explosions expected to continue  developed ability to reproduce earlier

Prickly pear

Origin  Native to the Americas

Introduction to  1788  spreading until 1920’s
Aus  To start cochineal dye industry – Spain had the monopoly in this industry
Features  Include 10 variations
 Leaves reduced to small scales
 Large (often yellow) flowers
 Reproduction: branches fall into soil and grow
Distribution  Lacked selection pressures  exponential growth
 Spread 1 million acres a year
Impact  Became an invasive species/pest
 Lack of selection pressure  lack of diversity
 Early settlers land dependent (agriculture)  tried to remove them, however the expense
of these methods bankrupted many farmers
Control/solution  Early control: burning, crushing and herbicides  failed
 Two species of insect: cochineal beetle and cactoblastis moth were imported
 Cactoblastis moth – strong selection pressure  improved the lack of biodiversity and
decreased numbers (biological control)
 Prickly pear still in Aus – mostly cooler areas (bioclimate less favourable for cactus moth)
Adaptations
Structural adaptations

 Anatomical feature e.g. kangaroo pouch, spines on an echidna & ears of a bilby
- SA:V
- Body coverings
- Dentition
- Vascular body parts

Physiological adaptations

 Internal function e.g. sticky saliva of an echidna (traps ants)

- Camouflage
- Evaporative cooling
- Counter current heat exchange
- Torpor
- CAM photosynthesis
- Frost tolerance
- Regulation of salinity

Behavioural adaptations

 An action an organism makes e.g. kangaroo licks forearms to cool down

- Seeking or leaving shade or shelter
- Huddling
- Migration
- Tropism
- Nastic movement

Charles Darwin & HMS Beagle

 1831 left England – journey lasts 5 years

 Cape Verde Islands
- Found fossil shells high on a cliff
- Same shells as he had found on the beaches of England
- Shells had lived in the sea, but how did they get into a rock so high above the sea?
 Coast of South America
- 1832-1835
- Discovered geological sequence that contained a paleo flora never described before
- Flora includes an important number of species  specifically the small conifer forest with many
silicified trunks still in life position
- Described and interpreted the sequence as sedimentary; records show very detailed level of
observation
- First observation – “I counted the stumps of fifty-two tree. They projected between two and five feet
above the grounds. And stood exactly right angles to the strata”
 Pacific Coast of South America
- Witnessed an earthquake and saw its effects
- Mussels are marine animals that anchor to rocks under the sea
- After the earthquake, Darwin saw that mussels had been moved to 3 metres above the high tide
level
- Showed Darwin that environments change, sometimes very quickly
 Galapagos Islands (13) Pacific Ocean
- Finches had a common ancestor
- Diets and habitats differ across island
- Appear, behaved and acted differently
 - Different islands = different selection pressure  increasing variation
- Developed from one common ancestor
- Adapted to fill the ecological niches
- 13 species encountered – conclusion of divergent evolution (related to size, beaks and tail length)
 Sydney
- Observed that many of the plants and animals were different in Australia from anywhere else in the
world
- Wondered why there were different types of plants and animals in different parts of the world

Finch Environment & Diet Beak type related to diet Diagram of beak
Medium  Widespread  Crushing beak, species
ground  Coastal areas and lowlands specialise in eating different-
finch  Seeds sized food
 Cactus  Largest finch, with large beak
 Longer more pointed beak
Small tree  Live in forests, feeding in  Grasping beak
finch trees  Woodpecker finch uses tools –
 Grubs twigs and cactus spines
 Insects  Small body and beak

Australian flora and fauna

Flora
Banksia Structural: Waxy cuticle leaves  protect from salty conditions
Behavioural: Grow to a size that is most fit for survival
Physiological: Lignotubers  when in contact with fire they will begin
germination
Eucalyptus Structural: Hangs vertically  less excessive transpiration
Behavioural: Releases seeds after a fire (germination)
Physiological: Shed part of their canopy to reduce their water intake which
is needed in high heat
Fauna
Kangaroo Structural: Massive hind legs  jump nine feet at a time and detect and
rat escape predators
Behavioural: Burrow in the soil  cool down in hot desert
Physiological: Oily coats  reduce water loss
Platypus Structural: Two fur layer – first layer: short & dense which insulates,
second layer: longer & acts as waterproofing coat
Behavioral: Sweeps bill underwater 2-3 times a second, picking up the
electrical impulses
Physiological: Reduces blood flow to parts of its body in cold weather –
keeps vital internal organs intact

Theory of evolution by natural selection

Biodiversity

 Variety of life forms found in an area

 Genetic diversity: differences in DNA
 Species diversity: number of different species in an area and their abundance
 Ecosystem diversity: number of different ecosystems in an area
 The natural variety within a population gives it a robustness to survive changing conditions
4 key points of Darwin's Theory

 Variation
 Environmental selective pressure
 Best suited - survive, thrive, reproduce
 Speciation

Variation occurs by:

 Sexual reproduction (meiosis and random fertilisation)

 Mutation (changes in DNA)
 To have variation in the population of a species is an advantage. If the environment suddenly changes, there
is a chance that some members of the species will be adapted to the new environment and be able to
survive.

The factors that cause natural selection are:

 Competition for food and shelter

 Variation
 Struggle for existence
 Reproduction

Evolution of the horse

Divergent evolution

 Common ancestor  evolved into different species due to adaptive radiation

 E.g. Darwin’s finches

Convergent evolution

 No shared ancestor  similar features due to similar selection pressures

  E.g. similar body shape of dolphins (a mammal) and sharks (a fish)

Gradualism (Charles Darwin)

 Slowly diverge over much geological time in response to selection pressures

 E.g. trilobites changed gradually over 3 million years

Punctuated equilibrium (Eldridge and Gould)

 Long periods of evolutionary stasis  then ‘punctuated’ by short periods of rapid evolution
 E.g. ice age

Evolution – The Evidence

Homologous: similar morphology, embryology and anatomy etc. but are dissimilar in their functions

Analogous: structures in different species performing same functions but have a different evolutionary origin

Comparative anatomy

 Similarities and differences in anatomy of different species

 Similar structures in vertebrate species  possible common ancestor
 E.g. pentadactyl forelimb (homologous structure) - same five digits but used differently

Comparative embryology

 Comparison of embryos and their development in different species

 Shows shared ancestry for all vertebrates  most closely related will share
similarities at later stages
 Mammalian embryos have gill slits at early stage of development, similar to
those seen in fish

Biogeography

 Study of geographic distribution of organisms and factor influencing distribution

 How evolution and distribution has been shaped by geological process
  E.g. Ratites  large flightless birds – common ancestor from supercontinent Gondwana

Biochemical evidence

 Study of biochemical processes in organisms

 Presence of similar molecules, enzymes, biochemical processes etc  indicates common ancestor
 E.g. chimpanzee most related to humans  zero differences in cytochrome-C

Paleontology

 Study of fossils
 Fossils in older rocks show simple life forms  younger rocks are more complex (evidence of change from
simple to more complex organism overtime)
 E.g.
- Amphibians have skeletal structure – including 4 limbs, lungs
- Fish have fins, smaller rib structure and small pelvis
- Reptiles have teeth, claws and jointed talks with vertebrae.
- Birds have feathers, wings, beak and wishbone

Carbon-14 dating

 Based on the known rate of beta decay of carbon-14 to produce nitrogen-14

 Living things accumulate carbon-14 (originally from atmosphere) in their bodies during their lifetime
 While alive – C-14 to C-12 ratio remains constant
 Death – ratio changes as the carbon-14 slowly decays (ratio slowly drops)
 Ratio decreases by half each 5730 years (half-life of carbon-14)
 Usage restricted to carbon-based artefacts less than 60 000 years old (too little carbon-14 remaining to
detect)

Relative dating

 Younger or older (not exact)

 Based on potion in rock strata (stratigraphy)
 Qualitative data
 Less expensive and time-efficient
 Difficult in areas where rock layers are displaced
 Works best for sedimentary rocks having layered arrangement of sediments

Absolute dating

 More precise, not exact

 Radiometric techniques
 Quantitative data
 Expensive and time-consuming
 Works best for igneous and metamorphic rocks
 3 types:
- Radiometric dating  radioactive isotopes found in fossils – rate of decay helps determine age
- Thermoluminescence  heated objected absorb light and emit electrons – emissions measured to
compute the age
 - Electron spin resonance  detest and quantify unpaired or off electrons in atomic or molecular
systems

Antibiotic-resistance of bacteria

 Superbugs  strains of bacteria which do not respond to antibiotic treatment

 Evolved using the same fundamental principles of evolution by natural selection
1) Within every population of bacteria  some are antibiotic-resistant due to natural variation and
mutation
2) Whenever someone uses antibiotics  most bacteria are killed, but the few resistant ones survive
3) These are then able to reproduce, with antibiotic resistance becoming the dominant trait in the
population (speciation), eventually leading to a ‘superbug’ strain
4) Bacteria are able to pass genetic information to each other using plasmids, circular pieces of DNA
which bacteria can incorporate into their genomes  speeds up evolution as they can pass their
genes for resistance onto others
 Process of bacterial evolution has also been sped-up by a number of human factors
- The overuse of antibiotics unnecessarily  each time used, selection pressures are applied and more
antibiotic-resistant individuals emerge
- Antibiotics are often used to treat the wrong inflections e.g. colds which are not viral infections
(cannot be killed using antibiotics)  non-threatening populations of bacteria which exist in
symbiosis with humans can become pathogenic
 These factors combined with the fact that bacteria reproduce at a very repaid rate (E.coli reproduce approx..
once every 30 secs)  evident how bacterium have evolved so quickly into these superbugs