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Course: Biodiversity | California Academy of Sciences > Unit 8
Lesson 1: Genetic and ecosystem biodiversity- Genes and biodiversity
- Ecosystem biodiversity
- Tropical rainforest biomes
- Test your knowledge: genetic and ecosystem biodiversity
- Exploration questions: genetic and ecosystem biodiversity
- Activity: genetic and ecosystem biodiversity
- Glossary: genetic and ecosystem biodiversity
- Selected references: genetic and ecosystem biodiversity
- Answers to exploration questions: genetic and ecosystem biodiversity
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Exploration questions: genetic and ecosystem biodiversity
Grab your notebook or computer and write out your answer to each of the following questions. Then compare your answer to the suggested answer found in the “Answers to the exploration questions” document. Have fun! Hint: the information needed to answer these questions can be found in the videos and article.
1. In a few sentences, explain why inbreeding can be a threat to the survival of a species.
2. After watching the videos in this tutorial, your friend asks you to describe a scenario that might lead to a genetic bottleneck for a species. Be sure to include a specific example of a known bottleneck that has occurred in nature.
Want to join the conversation?
what animals live in tundra(2 votes)
According to these two (2) sites below, some examples of animals in the tundras of our planet include: lemmings, wolves, foxes, polar bears, raven, salmon, trout, hares, caribou, and many others.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/gloss5/biome/tundra.html
https://beyondpenguins.ehe.osu.edu/issue/tundra-life-in-the-polar-extremes/life-in-the-tundra(1 vote)
1. In a few sentences, explain why inbreeding can be a threat to the survival of a species.
Inbreeding can be a threat to the survival of a species because if a certain animal has a disease, of a malfunction in there genes that causes them to be more weaker and valuable, they could pass those traits to their offsprings cause more of their kind to be more vulnerable to disease and could possibly die off.
I also saw somewhere that inbreeding can cause inbreeding depression, which can reduce survival and reproduction, and increase the risk of extinction.
2. After watching the videos in this tutorial, your friend asks you to describe a scenario that might lead to a genetic bottleneck for a species. Be sure to include a specific example of a known bottleneck that has occurred in nature.
An example of a scenario that might lead to a genetic bottleneck is human hunting (poaching). In the 1890s, humans hunted the northern elephant seals for their blubber, reducing their population to about 20 individuals. This bottle necking event caused the population to represent a small fraction of the original population's genetic diversity.(1 vote)