Biodiversity In The Peconic River: Environmental Analysis

In a large, randomly mating population where mutations, migration, and natural selection are no longer viable, the allele and genotypic frequencies will remain at equilibrium. If any of these conditions are changed, then the allele and genotype frequencies will be unable to maintain genetic equilibrium.

According to Darwin and his theory on evolution, organisms are presented with nature’s challenge of environmental change. Those that possess the characteristics of adapting to such challenges are successful in leaving their genes behind and ensuring that their lineage will continue. It is natural selection, where nature can perform tiny to mass sporadic experiments on its organisms, and the results can be interesting from extinction to significant changes within a species.

Genetic diversity allows the population to adapt to changing environments and it contributes and adds to the gene pool.

In this lab, we studied the health and response of a protist community in an environmental change. The objective of this lab was to study and learn about how variables, such as a more acidic environment, impact the community in a habitat. Furthermore, it was also to learn about how diversity is quantified. To test this, we added protist communities to habitats of different pH levels, from 7 to 4, and let them live there for a week. We then studied the results and investigated which protists lived better in which environments. We discovered that at a pH of 7, the neutral pH of spring water, protists were able to live. As the pH was decreased, however, protists began to die off and could not survive in such acidic conditions. We also noticed that the lower the pH, the lower the diversity because fewer types of protists could survive. We can use this information to see how acidic conditions in nature such as those caused by acid rain can affect communities. We now know that an acidic environment can be extremely harmful to a community and so we should be more cautious of acid rain. If acidic conditions are bad for protists, it is quite possible that they are unfavorable for humans as well.

From the data we can conclude that different traits or parameters can effect a population in many different ways. It can decrease or increase a population depending on the trait. After a hurricane hits Lake Malawi the cichlid fish male population must adapt to the new factors that have been put upon them. Mutation within the population supports the fact that it can cause dominant and recessive allele frequency to decrease. Migration causes the allele frequency to lower as well due to movement of the population after the hurricane. The cichlid male fish with a higher fitness are more suitable for their environment, but when their fitness is lowered, their allele frequency decreases. This

This occurs when a species is separated and mate with a different species, changing their genetic composition, if then the two species were to be brought back together and mate again, it would cause what is called ‘gene migration’. This process gives so many different variations among the species, which allows more and more variation and population. This process also explains endangered species and extinction.

Many species vital to ensuring that today’s environment will thrive are becoming extinct. If a species is slowly dwindling, and in imminent danger of becoming nonexistent, this species is considered to be endangered. “One in four mammals, one in eight birds, one third of all amphibians and 70% of the world’s assessed plants on the… IUCN Red List are in jeopardy” (IUCN, 2016). According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, upwards of 16,000 species are threatened with extinction, including both plants and animals (IUCN, 2016). Before becoming endangered, a species will show warning signs, either by starting to lose biological diversity or by losing the habitats for that species to flourish in, or in the worst case, both. The word endangered can sometimes be confused with threatened, extirpated, or extinct. Extirpated refers to the state of a species where its population has died out in a certain area or range, but other populations of said species still exist elsewhere (Olden, Julian D., 2008). When a species is considered threatened, or vulnerable, this refers to the state of the species being susceptible to endangerment and extinction (“Extinction crisis escalates”). So if a species is threatened, the first signs of endangerment come along, which are similar signs to that of a species in danger of becoming threatened, including lack of genetic diversity, or overhunting may be evident. (“Extinction crisis escalates”). When a species is labelled

Biodiversity is life’s variety. It is the varying genetics that each species carries that makes it different and “unique”. Biodiversity is important, not only in evolution, but in survival; when sometimes those terms can mean the very same thing. Interestingly, biodiversity can mean a variance in the life itself – or within the genetics of a species. In keeping breeding habits within the same lineage, some animals risk lower biodiversity and sometimes even deformities and disease, as they are able to more easily pass on unfavorable hereditary traits. In increasing the overall biodiversity, the only risk is a

Variation in allele frequency through time will be the net result of colonizing and extinction processes in the population. In other words, while species abundance in the population may remain stable over time, genetic diversity may vary (Figure 1). For instance, we would expect populations at earlier stages of establishment to exhibit greater genetic turnover rate compared to populations that are well established (Figure 1). For the black-legged tick in southern Quebec, all populations regardless of establishment stage will likely be experiencing regular influxes of new genetic material from the introduction of new individuals. However, the relative amount of novel genetic material relative to that already present locally will differ depending on the establishment stage (Figure 1). For populations still undergoing recolonization-extinction cycles, the relative amounts of novel genetic material will likely be much greater compared to local genetic material due to high local mortality rates (Figure 1). In this case, we would expect to observe great amounts of genetic turnover over time, assuming that introduced individuals originated from multiple random source populations. Conversely, populations that are well established with a self-sustaining pool of local individuals would likely have enough local genetic material to mask the signal of any introduced material (Figure 1). Therefore,

Inbreeding is the outcome of offspring from mating of individuals that are related by a descent. It is important to limit this effect in conservation programs due to the increased amount of homozygosity and exposed deleterious recessive alleles, which increase the risk of extinction to the population.

There is another side to the biodiversity of the evolutionary field, as the population weakens the species start the inbreeding of smaller populations, thus playing a role in the extinction of a species. Inbreeding is reproduction among members of a species that are genetically similar. The genetic inbreeding is designed to bolster populations of species whose numbers are in decline. However, when only a few species or varieties of a species are cultivated or survive, the genetic diversity of the organism declines, and population is more vulnerable to being wiped out by new diseases or climate changes because of the inbreeding (Alters, 2000).

Many lakes across the globe are home to a wide variety of organisms, which are supported by both the lakes themselves and by the abundance of varying habitats surrounding them. Lake Naivasha (0°45’N, 36°20’E) is one such lake: Situated within the rift valley, Lake Naivasha is a freshwater home to an abundance of both native and alien flora and fauna, both aquatic and terrestrial (Otiang’a-Owiti & Oswe, 2007). The lake has 3 main surface inflows; from the Malewa, Gilgil and Karati rivers, but is an endorheic lake (Otiang’a-Owiti & Oswe, 2007); so is a closed hydrological system on the surface (Figure 1). Nevertheless, it is thought that water from the lake does move southward underground, through volcanic rocks (Clarke et al., 1990, Ojiambo et al., 2001). There are various factors that contribute to the biodiversity of the lake; however one the most predominant factors is the impact that the steep increase in Naivasha’s population has had on the lake. 70% of Kenya’s horticultural output is produced in the Lake Naivasha area (Otiang’a-Owiti & Oswe, 2007), which makes it an area of extreme national economic importance. Due to this thriving industry, the lake’s population has risen from an estimated 7,000 in the 1969, to approximately 300,000 in 2007 (Ouma Oloo, 2007). This rapid population growth has had effects on many components of the ecosystem, including changes in lake levels and water composition, loss of habitats, introduction of alien species and decline in many species

For the purpose of this experiment, I propose that if a population experiences forces such as genetic drift, selection, and non-random mating combined, then the fittest allele will express dominance, leading to elimination of alternative alleles, and an extreme decrease in population size. Each scenario was run through the Koi Fish pond simulation and then finally all run together to compare how each force works on their own and then when combined.

The EPT Index looks at Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies, respectively) as indicators of aquatic community health. The idea behind the EPT Index is that healthier streams have a greater richness of species as many species of macroinvertebrates are intolerant of pollutions and thus will not be found in low quality bodies of water (Lenat 1988). Previous studies have found that EPT

GENETIC DIVERSITY: The amount of different genetic characteristics of the species in their genetic make up.