Local and Regional Forces

Calculating the number of different species that are present in a certain area is species diversity. Bigger the number of the species present,

The bar chart was used to compare the number of species in each transect. In transect A, there were 5 different species. The species in this area were mostly grass, forbs, moss, bugs and beetles. Bugs and beetles made up a small population of this transect. In transect B, there were also 5 species. The species were mostly grass, shrubs, forbs, moss and bugs. In this transect, shrubs were found which makes transect B more diversed than A. In Transect C, 8 species were located in this area. The species included shrubs, grass, fobs, evergreen, trees, dirt, bugs and spiders. New species such as evergreen, trees, dirt and spiders were located in this location. Therefore the test that diversity happens through ecological succession was

It is shown that with the ocean, one of the biggest factors in order to promote the diversity within it is how fast the water flows, it is proven that with the increase in flow, along with it comes the number of invertebrate species that live under the rocks within that water. 3

Species diversity can help an ecosystem remain stable. The greater the number of species in an ecosystem, the greater the diversity of that ecosystem. This will make it harder for one species to overpower the rest.

Biological diversity evolution combines the millions of species that live on our planet, and the genetic differences in those species. Biodiversity plays a key role in maintaining healthy ecosystems and sustaining ecosystem services to the growing human population. It also refers to the massive amount of diverse ecosystems in which species form distinctive communities that interact with each other. One example of biological diversity evolution is the North American Garter Snake. This snake lives primarily in the water but its closely related species lives primarily on land. This shows the biological diversity evolution on close related species that have evolved in different ways. (Campbell Essential Biology 2013) Another example is the wheat plant which is the world most cultivated plant. Sexual selection in which females choose mates to reproduce based on color has contributed to biological diversity evolution as well. Another example is the procreation of the spotted skunks, the western spotted skunks breed in the fall while their closest relative that lives in the east breeds late in the winter. (Campbell Essential Biology 2013)

Mark Boyce: “Fishes as top-down and bottom-up drivers of coral reef community dynamics” -April 6, 2016

During the Late Devonian period approximately 375 to 360 million years ago, a major extinction of marine life dramatically decreased biodiversity. Researchers state that of the five separate major global mass extinctions, there were only three truly significant mass extinctions on a global level that resulted in a critical drop in diversity: the end-Ordovician, end-Permian, and end-Cretaceous (Bambach et al., 2004). The other two— late Frasnian and end Triassic— do not follow the sequence of remarkable extinction patterns because it is not confirmed that extinction was the primary cause of the decrease in diversity. Nonetheless, for organisms in the marine fossil record, an increase in biodiversity typically precedes extinction, while speciation— the formation of new species as a process of evolution— occurs due to many niches being emptied at once. Increased extinction rates are generally accompanied by increased origination rates which produce new species. This biological evolution is due to competition and predation, interactions that affect species’ population size, density, and geographic range (Alroy, 2008). To conclude, the late Devonian period in which Stigall focused her research witnessed low global biodiversity and, through evidence supported by others’ research, it was subsequently followed by high

Investigation on species distribution and abundance (SDA) is one of the major topics in ecology. It is well-recognized that SDA is affected by abiotic and biotic variables; and interaction between each variable. Abiotic variables such temperature and rainfall play important roles to filter species distribution (Catling and Burt 1995a; Catling et al. 1998). Human intervention through land-use changes and urban development can also affect species distribution (Holland and Bennett 2007). Those broad-scale variables interact with localized variables such

For example, older bacteria lineages indicate slower rates of change and a few genes were seen to be niche specific (Hao and Golding 2006). Similarly various insect groups have many generations over a short period of time and demonstrate high fecundity rates. The overall influence of the changing climate could cause swifter speciation or variation in species richness or a change in the order of trophic levels (Nicolakakis et al. 2003, Petchey et al. 1999).

From the beginning of life, there have been uncountable numbers of living organisms and species across the planet. But what forces are at play to create such diversity. Surely, competition for resources drives evolution, but there are many styles of obtaining these resources and avoiding dangers. Interspecific competition comes from two species competing for the same resource. Over time, these forces push species to obtain these resources differently. This could be from changing the time or location of getting this resource, to adapting different functions or

Anthropogenic activity has caused significant transformations to our natural ecosystems due to a diverse suite of interdependent factors. Human action includes the large-scale commercialization and industrialization of activities such as mining, fishing, agriculture, hunting and forestry. These human-driven changes have left a ‘fingerprint’ on the natural landscape, which has undoubtedly altered the structure and function of the Earth’s biogeochemical cycles (Vitousek et. al, 1997). The relatively rapid rise in global temperatures over the last few hundred years as a result of anthropogenic activities has had a grave effect on taxonomic abundance, diversity and distributions and its impacts have been studied across thousands of species (Parmesan and Yohe, 2003). One ecological response to current climate change is range shifts, where species distributions change due to taxa-specific physiological limitations and the interactions between other biotic and abiotic factors. As global warming increases, these pockets of inhabitable climatic conditions are predicted to move polewards or towards higher latitudes. Considering other factors such as motility, dispersal, resource availability and competitive

The Shannon Diversity Index is a diversity index in ecological literature. The idea is that

In figure 2, we observe that dissolved oxygen levels are higher in site 2 compared to site 1 and that variations within the same site are rather small. Lastly, both figure 1 and figure 2 show slightly higher elevations of both pH and dissolved oxygen at the 3rd location of sampling. In figure 3, we observe a significant correlation between pH and Simpson’s Diversity Index where it can be noted that the higher the level of pH, the higher the diversity index. In figure 4, we observe an unsupported correlation between pH and total taxa. Henceforth, total taxa does not depend on pH levels. In figure 5, an unsupported correlation between is observed between dissolved oxygen and Simpson’s Diversity Index. In figure 6, an unsupported correlation is observed between dissolved oxygen and total taxa. As in figure 4, it can be concluded from these observations that total taxa does not depend on dissolved oxygen levels in the water. In figure 7, it is observed that the percent relative abundance of taxa at site 1 does not share a particular link with the percent relative abundance of taxa at site 2. Furthermore, different taxa are shown to be dominant for both sites. Ephemeroptera and Odonata are the only taxa shared by both sites according to this figure.

11 implications on coral reef ecosystems and dilute the recovering potential of the corals (Harley et

What does the study of regional science help us understand? What are the three “building blocks” that underlie the complex patterns of location of economic activity? Should jobs move to people or should people move to jobs?