BIOLOGY 1M03 Chapter Notes - Chapter 55: Habitat Fragmentation, Habitat Destruction, Intact Forest Landscape
15 May 2017
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Document Summary
Perhaps simplest way to think about biodiversity is in terms of tree of life, the phylogenetic tree of all organisms. When biodiversity, increases, branches and tips are added and tree of life gets fuller and bushier. When extinctions occur, tips and perhaps branches are removed, the tree of life becomes thinner and sparser. 2: natural selection, genetic drift and gene flow can increase or decrease overall genetic diversity, speciation, extinction increases and decreases species diversity, changes in climate or other physical conditions can result in formation of. In most taxonomic groups, species richness is highest in the tropics and declines toward the poles. Tropical rain forests are particularly species rich. Data indicates that some areas of the tropics are much more species rich than others. Biologists use the term hotspot to capture this point. In terms of bird species richness, the andes mountains, the amazon river basin, portions of east african and southwest china are important hotspots.
