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Biodiversity
Biodiversity
The first thing you need to do is read this case study about amphibians. Answer the questions on your study guide as you read.
amphibians at risk.pdfFill out the rest of your study guide as you continue through the task.
You might have been surprised to read about how important amphibians are in our world. For such a small species, they have a huge impact.
Now think about the rest of the species on Earth. If a little frog can have such a large influence, imagine how many ecosystems would be different if we lost more common species, like wolves, deer, whales, or even salmon.
Biodiversity is simply the variety of life on Earth. This can be looked at globally (every species on Earth), or on a smaller scale (every species in an ecosystem, in an area, etc.).
Biodiversity has four major components:
Biodiversity has four major components:
Species Diversity
variety and abundance of species in an ecosystem
Genetic Diversity
variety of genes in a population of a species
Ecosystem Diversity
Earth's diversity of ecosystems (we will learn about these later)
Functional Diversity
variety of processes in an ecosystem (like food webs)
To help you understand diversity, pick one of these four games to play.
Each game is the same concept, in a different ecosystem. You will be trying to create as much biodiversity as you can.
Checkpoint 1:
Checkpoint 1:
Submit your document to Slate. Make sure you have answered the questions about the simulation as a model.
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