Key Stage 3
Meaning
Biodiversity is the amount of genetic variation within species and between different species. The more genetic variation, the greater the biodiversity.
About Biodiversity
- Biodiversity between different species is important to maintain complex food webs. When one species in a food web becomes extinct it can cause many others to become extinct.
- Biodiversity within a species is important to help a species produce healthy and fertile offspring. If a species is reduced to close family members their offspring can be deformed or inherit genetic conditions. Most Labradors have bad hips because they are all descended from a small number of dogs. They don't have enough biodiversity to inherit better hips.
- To help preserve biodiversity scientists have created gene banks where sperm, eggs and seed from many different species are stored.