Chapter 5, Problem 1A

Summary Introduction

To explain:

Biodiversity of a species occurs when the last member of the species dies.

Introduction:

The term Biodiversity is referred as the different variety of the life forms in an area, this comprises of number of different species present in that particular area. Biodiversity of an area depends on various factors such as environmental conditions, dominating species etc. among these the environmental conditions plays the key role. There are usually three types of biodiversity exists in the environment viz. Genetic diversity, Species diversity and Ecosystem diversity.

Explanation of Solution

Species plays the vital role in the biodiversity as the species population can exist in wide varieties such as endangered, extinct, threatened etc. Species population can vary with time depending on several factors such as environment, predation, loss of habitat, introduction of invasive species, competition etc. When the last member of any species dies this is referred as the extinction of that particular species and when any species goes extinct this also have effect on biodiversity the species count of that area get reduced.

Conclusion

Biodiversity plays crucial role in the stability of environment and the biospheres. As when any species goes extinct this can have negative effect on the population of other related species which depends directly or indirectly on the extinct species. For example: If the deer species goes extinct in any forest due to loss of habitat then this can also adversely affect the species of lion or tiger which is primarily based on the deer population in that area. Therefore, the biodiversity helps in maintaining the proper balance among the population of species and the ecosystem.