Essential Idea:
Entire communities need to be conserved
in order to preserve biodiversity
Understandings:
- An indicator species is an organism used to assess a specific environmental condition
- Relative numbers of indicator species can be used to calculate the value of a biotic index
- In situ conservation may require active management of nature reserves or national parks
- Ex situ conservation is the preservation of species outside their natural habitats
- Biogeographic factors affect species diversity
- Richness and evenness are components of biodiversity
Applications:
- Case study of the captive breeding and reintroduction of an endangered animal species
- Analysis of the impact of biogeographic factors on diversity limited to island size and edge effects
Skills:
- Analysis of the biodiversity of two local communities using Simpson’s reciprocal index of diversity