18 Classification, biodiversity and conservation

together in the same genus. The second name is the

18.1 Classification specific epithet or trivial name. The generic name is one
word (e.g. Nesomimus); the species name is both words
The species concept (e.g. Nesomimus trifasciatus). Nesomimus trifasciatus is
one species within the genus Nesomimus, which includes
So far in this book, you have looked at evidence for all four mockingbird species of the Galapagos. If you
the unity of life. In this chapter you will consider the have already used the name once, then it is permissible
diversity of life on Earth. At its simplest, diversity can to abbreviate it when you use it again. The abbreviated
be thought of as a catalogue of all the different species. form is the first letter of the generic name followed by
The term species is often used to mean a group of the specific epithet (e.g. N. trifasciatus). If there is any
organisms that appear similar to each other, and that ambiguity about doing this (e.g. you might be writing
can breed together successfully to produce fertile about two species with generic names both beginning
offspring. This definition describes the biological species with A), then you have to write out the name in full. If
concept, also known as the biospecies concept. asked for a species name, then always give two names:
When many species are described for the first time, genus followed by the specific epithet.
it is impossible to apply this definition because
most are described using physical features, such as KEY WORDS
morphology (outward appearance) and anatomy.
In these circumstances biologists are using the biological species: a group of organisms with
morphological species concept. Biologists also apply the similar morphology and physiology, which can
ecological species concept when they find a population of breed together to produce fertile offspring and
organisms that share the same features and all live in the are reproductively isolated from other species
same habitat at the same time. morphological species: a group of organisms that
share many physical features that distinguish them
New species are discovered and named all the time. You
from other species
will have noticed that some species are given both their
common and scientific names. When a new species is ecological species: a population of individuals
discovered, it is given a scientific name using the binomial of the same species living in the same area at the
system that was developed by the Swedish scientist same time
Linnaeus in the 18th century. The first name is the genus population: all of the organisms of the same
(or generic) name. This indicates a rank higher than species present in the same place and at the
species in the classification system. Species that show same time that can interbreed with one another
many similarities and are closely related are classified

a b

Figure 18.2: Appearances can be deceptive. These mammals look very similar, but they are two different species, classified
in two different orders. a This is a mouse from southern Africa; b this is an antechinus from Australia. The mouse is a placental
mammal and the antechinus is a marsupial.

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No one knows for certain how many different species

African bush
there are on Earth (Figure 18.2). More than 1.5 million Taxonomic rank Hibiscus
elephant
species of animals have been described and named to
date. Estimates of the total number of species range up domain Eukarya Eukarya
to 100 million species.
kingdom Animalia Plantae
phylum Chordata Angiospermae
Hierarchical classification class Mammalia Dicotyledonae
With such a huge number of different kinds of organisms order Proboscidea Malvales
living on Earth, biologists have always wanted to arrange
them into groups, a process called classification. We find family Elephantidae Malvaceae
it difficult to memorise or absorb information about genus Loxodonta Hibiscus
thousands of different unrelated objects. By grouping
them into different categories, it is much easier to species Loxodonta Hibiscus
understand them and to remember their key features. africana rosa-sinensis

Taxonomy is the study and practice of classification, Table 18.1: The classification of African bush elephants and
which involves placing organisms in a series of hibiscus plants.
taxonomic units, or taxa (singular: taxon). In biological
classification, these taxa form a hierarchy. Each kind
of organism is assigned to its own species, and similar
KEY WORDS
species are grouped into a genus (plural: genera). Similar
genera are grouped into a family, families into an order, biological classification: the organisation of
orders into a class, classes into a phylum (plural: phyla) living and extinct organisms into systematic
and phyla into a kingdom. The domain is at the highest groups based on similarities and differences
taxonomic rank in this hierarchical classification system. between species
Table 18.1 shows how African bush elephants and
hibiscus plants (Figure 18.3) are classified. taxonomy: the study and practice of naming and
classifying species and groups of species within
the hierarchical classification scheme
hierarchical classification: the arrangement of
organisms into groups of different rank. The
lowest rank is the species; similar species are
grouped together into the next rank, which is the
genus; this continues to the highest rank, which
is the domain where many species are grouped
together
taxonomic rank: one of the groups used in the
hierarchical classification system for organisms,
e.g. species, genus, family, order, class, phylum,
kingdom and domain
taxon (plural: taxa): a taxonomic group of any
rank, such as a particular species (e.g. Giraffa
camelopardalis), a family (e.g. Elephantidae), a
class (e.g. Mammalia) or a kingdom (e.g. Plantae)
domain: the highest taxonomic rank
kingdom: the taxonomic rank below domain
Figure 18.3: Hibiscus rosa-sinensis is a plant that has spread
from Asia to much of the tropics and sub-tropics. Flower colour
is a good example of the genetic diversity in this species.

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 18 Classification, biodiversity and conservation

Question many unusual enzymes. Since they were discovered in

extreme environments, they also have been found in
1 a The giraffe, Giraffa camelopardalis, is many less extreme environments; for example, they form
a mammal that belongs to the order an important part of the plankton in the oceans.
Artiodactyla and the family Giraffidae. Make
a table to show how the giraffe is classified.
b Use examples from Table 18.1 to explain:
i the term taxonomic rank
ii why the classification system is
hierarchical.

Three domains
Biologists used to divide organisms into two large
groupings based on their cell structure. In Chapter 1 you
saw that prokaryotes and eukaryotes have significantly
different cellular structures. In the 1970s prokaryotes
were discovered living in extreme environments, such
as hot springs where temperatures often exceed 100 °C.
These organisms are called extremophiles and are not
like typical bacteria. Studies revealed that the genes
coding for the RNA that makes up their ribosomes were
more like those of eukaryotes. The extremophiles were Figure 18.4: A deep-sea hydrothermal vent (black smoker)
found to share features with both typical bacteria and surrounded by giant tubeworms. The community relies on
eukaryotes. At this time, studies of molecular biology energy made available by bacteria and archaeans.
assumed a much greater significance in taxonomy.
This meant that a new taxon, the domain, had to be
In several ways, the Archaea appear to have more in
introduced to reflect the differences between these
common with the Eukarya than with Bacteria. It is
extremophiles and typical bacteria. The domain is the
thought that Bacteria and Archaea separated from each
taxon at the top of the hierarchy (Table 18.1). The
other very early in the evolution of life. The Archaea
prokaryotes are divided between the domains Bacteria
and Eukarya probably diverged later.
and Archaea and all the eukaryotes are placed into the
domain Eukarya.
Domain Bacteria
Many Archaea live in extreme environments, such as
hot springs, around deep volcanic vents (black smokers) Bacteria are prokaryotic as their cells have no nucleus.
in the oceans (Figure 18.4) and in lakes where there is a They are all small organisms that vary in size between
very high concentration of salt. Some of them produce that of the largest virus and the smallest single-celled
methane, cannot survive where there is oxygen and have eukaryote.
Look back at Figure 1.30 to remind yourself of these
features and to see how prokaryotic cell structure differs
KEY WORDS
from that of eukaryotes. There are electron micrographs
Bacteria: the domain that contains all prokaryotic of two pathogenic species of bacteria in Chapter 10
organisms except those classified as Archaea (see Figures 10.2 and 10.12). Figure 18.5 shows the
cyanobacterium Nostoc.
Archaea: the domain of prokaryotic organisms
that resemble bacteria but share some features Domain Archaea
with eukaryotes Archaeans are also prokaryotic as their cells have no
Eukarya: the domain that contains all eukaryotic nucleus. Their range of size is similar to that of bacteria.
organisms: protoctists, fungi, plants and animals Many inhabit extreme environments (Figures 18.4
and 18.6).

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Figure 18.5: The filamentous cyanobacterium Nostoc. This

species fixes carbon dioxide in photosynthesis; it also fixes
Figure 18.6: A scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of
nitrogen by converting N2 into organic forms of nitrogen in
the archaean Pyrococcus furiosus (×12 500). Although they
the wider, lighter green cells in its filaments (×600).
look like bacteria, archaeans have differences in structure,
metabolism and genetics. P. furiosus is only found in near-
boiling water; if the temperature falls below 70 °C, it freezes
IMPORTANT and dies. It respires in anaerobic conditions using sulfur
instead of oxygen as the final electron acceptor.
Characteristic features of bacteria
• Cells with no nucleus
• DNA is circular and does not have histone IMPORTANT
proteins associated with it
Characteristic features of archaeans
• Smaller circular molecules of DNA called
plasmids are often present • Cells with no nucleus
• No membrane-bound organelles (such as • DNA exists as a circular ‘chromosome’ and
mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi does have histone proteins associated with it
body, chloroplasts) are present • Smaller circular molecules of DNA called
• Ribosomes (70S) are smaller than in plasmids are often present
eukaryotic cells • Cells with no membrane-bound organelles
• Cell walls are always present and contain • Ribosomes (70S) are smaller than in
peptidoglycans (not cellulose) eukaryotic cells, but the small subunit has
• Cells divide by binary fission, not by mitosis features that are similar to those in eukaryotic
• Usually exist as single cells or small groups ribosomes but not to bacterial ribosomes;
of cells. the base sequences of rRNA and the primary
structure of ribosomal proteins are more like
those in eukaryotes rather than bacteria
The metabolism of archaeans is similar to that of • Membrane lipids are unique − they are not
bacteria, but the way in which transcription occurs has found in membranes of bacteria or eukarya
much in common with eukaryotes. • Cell walls are always present but do not
contain peptidoglycans
Domain Eukarya • Cells divide by binary fission, not by mitosis
All the organisms classified into this domain have cells • Usually exist as single cells or small groups
with nuclei and membrane-bound organelles. of cells

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 18 Classification, biodiversity and conservation

IMPORTANT
Characteristic features of eukaryotes
• Cells with a nucleus and membrane-bound organelles
• DNA in the nucleus arranged as linear chromosomes with histone proteins
• Ribosomes (80S) in the cytosol are larger than in prokaryotes; chloroplasts and mitochondria have 70S
ribosomes, like those in bacteria
• Chloroplast and mtDNA is circular as in prokaryotes
• A great diversity of forms: there are unicellular (Figure 18.7), colonial (Figure 18.8) and multicellular
organisms
• Cell division is by mitosis
• Cell walls are present in some eukaryotes
• Many different ways of reproducing – asexually and sexually

Questions Kingdom Protoctista

The Protoctista is made up of a very diverse range of
2 Make a table to compare the features of the three eukaryotic organisms, which includes those that are
domains: Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya. often called protozoans (‘simple animals’) and algae,
3 State three ways in which organisms classified as such as seaweeds. Any eukaryote that is not a fungus,
Archeans differ from organisms classified in the plant or animal is classified as a protoctist (Figures 18.7
domain Bacteria. and 18.8).

Kingdoms KEY WORDS

The three domains are each divided into kingdoms. This Protoctista: kingdom of eukaryotic organisms
section describes the features of the four kingdoms of which are single-celled or made up of groups of
the domain Eukarya: similar cells
• Protoctista protoctist: a member of the Protoctista kingdom
• Fungi
• Plantae
• Animalia.

IMPORTANT
Characteristic features of protoctists
• Eukaryotic
• Mostly single-celled, or exist as groups of similar cells
• Some have animal-like cells (no cell wall) and are sometimes known as protozoa
• Others have plant-like cells (with cellulose cell walls and chloroplasts) and are sometimes known
as algae

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Figure 18.8: Volvox globator is a spherical colonial green

protoctist. The body is composed of thousands of cells with
flagella. These cells work together in a coordinated way but
Figure 18.7: Stentor roseli, a protoctist covered in many there is little specialisation of cells. Cells at one pole
cilia which it uses for movement and for feeding. Although detect light so the colony swims towards the light. Cells at
unicellular, it has considerable specialisation of regions within the other pole are specialised for reproduction. Inside there
its body (×240). are new colonies that are just about to be released (×60).

Many organisms in this kingdom may actually be more

closely related to organisms in other kingdoms than IMPORTANT
they are to each other. For example, there are strong
Characteristic features of fungi
arguments for classifying algae as plants.
• Eukaryotic
Kingdom Fungi • Do not have chlorophyll and do not
Fungi have some similarities with plants, but no fungus photosynthesise
is able to photosynthesise. Fungi are all heterotrophic, • Heterotrophic nutrition – they use organic
obtaining energy and carbon from dead and decaying compounds made by other organisms as their
matter or by feeding as parasites on living organisms. source of energy and source of molecules for
There is a vast range in size from the microscopic metabolism
yeasts to what may be the world’s largest organism. • Reproduce by means of spores (Figure 18.9)
A specimen of the honey fungus, Armillaria bulbosa, • Simple body form, which may be unicellular
grows in a forest in Wisconsin, USA, and spreads over or made up of long threads called hyphae
160 000 m2. Not only is it possibly the largest organism (with or without cross walls) (Figure 18.10);
in the world, but it may also be the oldest at 1500− all the hyphae that grow from a single spore
10 000 years old; its estimated mass is 100 tonnes. form the mycelium (body of the fungus);
large fungi such as mushrooms produce
KEY WORD large compacted masses of hyphae known as
‘fruiting bodies’ to release spores
Fungi: kingdom of eukaryotic organisms which
• Cells have cell walls made of chitin or other
do not photosynthesise and have cell walls but
substances, not cellulose
without cellulose
• Never have cilia

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 18 Classification, biodiversity and conservation

spores

hypha
mycelium

120 μm

detail of a hypha
vacuole
cytoplasm

Figure 18.9: Fruiting bodies of the puffball

ribosome
fungus, Lycoperdon perlatum, releasing millions of
membrane-bound nucleus cell wall not
microscopic spores. Their method of feeding on
organelles, including containing
dead and decaying matter means that eventually mitochondria cellulose 5 μm
the food is all used up. A few of these spores may
land on a suitable food source and be able Figure 18.10: The bread mould fungus, Rhizopus nigricans, and a
to grow. detail of the end of one hypha.

Kingdom Plantae
KEY WORD
Plantae (plants) are all multicellular photosynthetic
organisms (Figures 18.11 and 18.12). They have complex Plantae: kingdom of eukaryotic organisms which
bodies that are often highly branched both above and are multicellular, have cell walls that contain
below ground. cellulose and can photosynthesise

IMPORTANT
Characteristic features of plants
• Multicellular eukaryotes with cells that are differentiated to form tissues and organs
• Few types of specialised cells
• Some cells have chloroplasts and photosynthesise (see Figures 1.21 and 1.34)
• Autotrophic nutrition
• Cells have large, often permanent vacuoles for support
• Cell walls are always present and are made of cellulose
• Cells may occasionally have flagella (e.g. male gametes in ferns)

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Figure 18.12: Bristlecone pines are some of the oldest

Figure 18.11: Tree ferns, Cyathea sp., growing in Whirinaki
trees on Earth, many estimated to be between 2000 and
Conservation Park, New Zealand.
3000 years old. The trees in the photograph grow at over
2900 metres in the Twisted Forest in the Ashdown Gorge
Kingdom Animalia Wilderness area of Dixie National Forest, Utah, USA.
The Animalia are multicellular organisms that are all
heterotrophic with many ways of obtaining their food.
There is a great diversity of forms within this kingdom KEY WORD
(Figure 18.13). The nervous system is unique to the Animalia: kingdom of eukaryotic organisms
animal kingdom. which are multicellular and heterotrophic and
have a nervous system
IMPORTANT
Characteristic features of animals
• Multicellular eukaryotes with many different
types of specialised cells
• Cells that are differentiated to form tissues
and organs
• Cells do not have chloroplasts and cannot
photosynthesise (although some, e.g. coral
polyps, have photosynthetic protoctists living
within their tissues)
• Cell vacuoles are small and temporary (e.g.
lysosomes and food vacuoles)
• Heterotrophic nutrition
• Cells do not have cell walls Figure 18.13: The crown-of-thorns starfish, Acanthaster
planci, feeds on coral in the Great Barrier Reef. It has been
• Communication is by the nervous system and
through several population explosions over recent years,
chemical signalling (Chapter 15)
causing destruction of much of the coral on parts of the reef
• Some specialised cells have cilia (see Section 18.2).

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 18 Classification, biodiversity and conservation

Question (see Figure 1.36); in Chapters 10 and 11 you considered

some human viral pathogens, and in Chapter 19 you will
4 a Which eukaryotic kingdoms contain: see that they have important roles in gene technology.
i autotrophic organisms Viruses are not in the three-domain classification
ii heterotrophic organisms? system. This is because viruses have none of the features
b Make a table to compare the features of the traditionally used for classification. When viruses are
four kingdoms of eukaryotes. free in the environment, they are infectious but they have
no metabolism. When they infect cells, they make use of
the biochemical machinery of the host cell to copy the
Viruses viral nucleic acids and to make viral proteins. This often
leads to destruction of the host cells. The energy for
Viruses are microorganisms whose structure is only
these processes is provided by respiration in the host cell.
visible with electron microscopes (Figures 18.14
and 18.15). Viruses are acellular – they do not The taxonomic system for classifying viruses is based
have a cellular structure like bacteria and fungi. on the type of nucleic acid they contain (DNA or
In Chapter 1 you looked at their structure RNA) and whether the nucleic acid is single-stranded or

a b
capsid

double-stranded
DNA

tail sheath

Figure 18.14: a A transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of a T4 bacteriophage – a virus that infects Escherischia coli
bacteria and is used as a vector in genetic modification. The scale bar represents 50 nm. b A diagram of a T4 bacteriophage.

Figure 18.15: A model showing the structure of part of the tobacco mosaic
virus, TMV. The blue strand is the single strand of RNA and the rest is composed
of proteins. In a survey of plant pathologists in 2011, TMV was voted the most
important plant virus.

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Nucleic acid Number of strands Example Host organism Disease

DNA 1 canine parvovirus type 2 dogs canine parvovirus
African cassava mosaic virus cassava plants mosaic disease
2 varicella zoster virus (VZV) humans chickenpox
T4 bacteriophage (Figure 18.14) Escherischia coli
RNA 1 rotavirus humans gastroenteritis
morbillivirus humans measles
tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) tobacco, tomato, mosaic disease
(Figure 18.15) pepper (Figure 18.16)
2 human immunodeficiency virus humans HIV/AIDS
(Figures 10.9 and 10.10)

Table 18.2: Viruses are classified into four groups according to the type and structure of their nucleic acid.

double-stranded. In cellular organisms, DNA is double- double-stranded. This means there are four groups of
stranded and RNA is single-stranded. But in viruses, viruses. Some examples of viruses in these four groups
both DNA and RNA can be either single-stranded or are shown in Table 18.2.

Question
5 a Explain why viruses are not included in the
three-domain classification system described in
this chapter.
b State the features that are used in the
classification of viruses.
c Should viruses be considered as living
organisms or not?

Figure 18.16: Viruses are the ultimate in parasitism – they

can only reproduce inside the cells of their host. This tobacco
plant is showing signs of infection by the tobacco mosaic
virus. TMV severely reduces plant growth and spreads rapidly
through crops such as tobacco and tomato.

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 18 Classification, biodiversity and conservation

18.2 Biodiversity
Biodiversity can be defined as the degree of variation
of life forms in an ecosystem. However, the concept is
considered much wider than just a list of species and is
usually taken to include diversity at three levels:
• the number and range of ecosystems and habitats
• the number of different species in the ecosystem
and their relative abundance
• the genetic variation within each species.
Some areas of the world have very high biodiversity.
Examples of these include the Congo basin in Africa,
South East Asia, the Caribbean and Central America, Figure 18.18: Trees in tropical forests, as here in Costa
Amazonia and south-west Australia. These areas have Rica, are often covered with epiphytes – plants that grow
many endemic species – that is, species that are only on other plants. These provide far more habitats for small
found in these areas and nowhere else (Figure 18.17). animals, such as beetles, than does the bare bark of trees
in temperate forests. One tree in a tropical rainforest can
contain up to 1200 species of beetle.

An ecosystem is a relatively self-contained, interacting

community of organisms, and the environment in
which they live and with which they interact. A forest
ecosystem includes the community of organisms and
the soil, the dead leaves that form leaf litter, water
in the rain and in streams, the air, the rocks and all
the physical and chemical factors which influence

KEY WORDS
biodiversity: the variety of ecosystems and
species in an area and the genetic diversity
within each species
Figure 18.17: Because New Zealand was isolated for many
millions of years, it has many endemic species and also endemic: of species, a species that is only found
some, like this tuatara, Sphenodon sp., that have become in a certain area and nowhere else
extinct elsewhere. ecosystem: a relatively self-contained,
interacting community of organisms, and the
environment in which they live and with which
they interact
Ecosystems and habitats
community: all of the living organisms, of all
Species do not live in isolation; they share their living
species, that are found in a particular ecosystem
space with others to form communities like that in a
at a particular time
forest (Figure 18.18). These communities of organisms
interact with each other and with their environment.

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organisms. No ecosystem is entirely self-contained; It is almost impossible to provide a complete description

organisms in one ecosystem interact with those from of the niche of any organism, because there are so
others. Many birds, for example, migrate from one many ways in which one organism interacts with other
ecosystem to another, often over very great distances, components of the ecosystem of which it is a part.
to find food and to breed.
You can think of ecosystems on different scales: a small
pond is an ecosystem because the water provides a very
Question
different environment from the soil and air around it. 6 Distinguish between the terms ecosystem and niche.
The organisms in the pond community are therefore
very different from those of the surrounding ecosystem.
At the other end of the scale is the open ocean, which
Species diversity
is a huge ecosystem. Some ecosystems (e.g. tropical The number of species in a community is known as
rainforests and coral reefs) are very complex; others species richness. Species diversity takes species richness
(e.g. sandy deserts) are very simple. into account, but it also includes a measure of the
evenness of the abundance of the different species. The
A habitat describes the place where a species lives within more species there are and the more evenly the number
an ecosystem. The niche occupied by a species is more of organisms is distributed among the different species,
than a physical description of a place. A niche is the role the greater the species diversity. Table 18.3 shows the
of an organism in an ecosystem; it is how the organism number of trees of different species that were recorded
‘fits into’ the ecosystem (Figure 18.19). An organism’s in two similar ecosystems.
niche describes where it is, how it obtains energy, how
it interacts with both its physical environment and with
other species. Organisms require resources from their KEY WORDS
surroundings and they have special adaptations for
obtaining them. habitat: the place where an organism, a
population or a community lives
niche: the role of an organism in an ecosystem
species diversity: all the species in an ecosystem

Tree species Ecosystem 1 Ecosystem 2

A 45 65
B 23 10
C 55 20
D 14 0
E 19 5
F 23 4

Table 18.3: These two ecosystems have the same species

richness, but Ecosystem 1 has a higher diversity as its
species evenness is greater than Ecosystem 2.

Figure 18.19: The niche of this great egret includes the Coral reefs have a very high biodiversity. Such an
freshwater ecosystem where it spends much of its time ecosystem offers many different ecological niches, which
feeding. It also includes the nearby trees where it roosts are exploited by different species. Species diversity is
and nests. considered important because ecosystems with high
species diversity tend to be more stable than ones with

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 18 Classification, biodiversity and conservation

limited diversity. Highly diverse ecosystems have greater The genetic diversity that exists between varieties of
resilience because they are able to resist changes in cultivated plants and domesticated animals is obvious
environmental factors. because we can see the differences (e.g. between types of
garden rose or breeds of dog). Similar genetic diversity,
Some ecosystems are dominated by one or two species
although not always so obvious, exists in natural
and other species may be rare. This is the case in the
populations (Figure 18.20). The genetic differences
natural pine forests in Florida and temperate forests in
between populations of the same species exist because
Canada, which are dominated by a few tree species.
populations may be adapted slightly differently in
The tropics are important centres for biodiversity. This different parts of their range. There is also genetic
may be because living conditions are not too extreme diversity within each population. This diversity is
(no frost, snow or ice), there is light of high intensity all important in providing populations with the ability to
year round, and birds and mammals do not need to use adapt to changes in biotic and abiotic factors. Such
energy keeping warm. For example, there are about 1500 factors include competition with other species, evading
species of bird in Central America, but only 300 in the new predators, resisting new strains of disease and
Northwest Territories of Canada. changes in temperature, salinity, humidity and rainfall.

Genetic diversity Question

Genetic diversity is the diversity of alleles within 7 a The snails in Figure 18.20 look very different
the genes in the genome of a single species. All the from one another. Explain why they are all
individuals of a species have the same genes, but they members of the same species.
do not all have the same alleles of those genes. Genetic b One measure of the genetic diversity in a
diversity within a species can be assessed by finding out population is the frequency of different
what proportion of genes have different alleles and how alleles and the proportion of heterozygous
many alleles there are of each gene. individuals. Suggest how you would investigate
these in a population of the snails shown in
Figure 18.20.
KEY WORD
c Suggest and explain the effect of the following
genetic diversity: all the alleles of all the genes on genetic diversity: artificial selection
in the genome of a species (selective breeding), habitat destruction and
the release of farmed fish into the wild.

Figure 18.20: Phenotypic variation in shells of the land snail Cepaea nemoralis. The differences between them are the result
of different alleles for the genes that control shell colour and number of bands on the shells.

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Assessing species diversity species you can collect and then identify. If you cannot
identify particular species, take photographs of them
Collecting organisms and making and name them as species A, species B, and so on.
Some animals will be hard to find and collect, especially
species lists small ones such as tiny beetles. A pooter is a simple
Imagine you are in an ecosystem like that in piece of apparatus that is used to collect these animals
Figure 18.21. The most obvious species are the (Figure 18.22). Breathing air into the mouth sucks up
large plants and maybe some of the larger animals, small animals into a plastic container. They can be
particularly bird species. The first task when assessing removed and studied and identified using a hand lens,
species diversity is to identify and catalogue the types of and then returned to their habitat.
organism present and build a species list.
It is rare to try to catalogue everything. In an area of
Biologists use identification keys to name the organisms
grassland or woodland, you might choose to concentrate
that they find. There are different forms of key: some
on just one or two groups, such as flowering plants and
have drawings or photographs with identifications;
insects. On a rocky shore, a study may involve the most
others ask a series of questions. The most common of
obvious organisms such as seaweeds and molluscs
these is a dichotomous key. In your own fieldwork, you
(see Worked Example 3).
may use one of these to identify some plant species.
Identification requires good skills of observation.
At first, it is a good idea to do a timed search
throughout the area you are studying to see how many

Figure 18.21: How would you start to investigate and Figure 18.22: This ecologist is using a pooter to collect
catalogue the biodiversity of an area like this? small animals from high in the tree canopy in a Yungas
forest, along the eastern slopes of the Andes in Argentina.

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