Biodiversity and human impacts
>Biodiversity as you might've guessed
comes from two words, biological and diversity.
And essentially, it's the variations
or the diversity present between living things.
Now, I grew up in the sunny state of Arizona.
And at first glance,
there doesn't seem to be much variety
in such a hot and dry place.
I mean, it's the desert, right?
But if we take a closer look
at a place such as the Sonoran Desert,
and when we see a picture,
we would find all kinds of different living things
like saguaro cacti, jackrabbits, tarantulas,
silver-haired bats and the roadrunner,
which is my personal favorite.
So we can say that the desert is actually quite biodiverse.
So in other words,
it's home to a large variety of living things.
Since there are both big and small differences
between different living things,
we can think of biodiversity on three different levels.
So the first and smallest scale level
is going to be genetic biodiversity,
which is just the genetic variation
within a group of organisms.
And a really great example of this kind of biodiversity
is the rock pocket mouse.
, And I know, that's a mouthful of words to say.
But it's really cute.
I mean, look at this picture.
So this is a species that can actually be found right here
in the Sonoran Desert.
And the cool thing about this mouse species
is that there exists both tan
and black-colored rock pocket mice.
So even though both colored rodents
come from the same species,
there are genetic biodiversity
creates mice with completely different traits.
And what's even more awesome
is the fact that these colors, tan and black,
have come about due to natural selection.
So scientists have found
that there are more black-colored rock pocket mice
in places with dark black-ish lava rock.
While there are more tan-colored rock pocket mice
in lighter colored sands.
And this makes sense because if you think about it,
the mice are hunted from above by predators like birds.
So having a coat color that blends into their surroundings
would increase their chances of survival.
So having this kind of genetic biodiversity is really great,
because the rock pocket mice
can use many different colored landscapes as habitats.
And if let's say the landscape color were to change
and suddenly become dominated by dark lava rock,
then this population of mice
>Biodiversity as you might've guessed
comes from two words, biological and diversity.
And essentially, it's the variations
or the diversity present between living things.
Now, I grew up in the sunny state of Arizona.
And at first glance,
there doesn't seem to be much variety
in such a hot and dry place.
I mean, it's the desert, right?
But if we take a closer look
at a place such as the Sonoran Desert,
and when we see a picture,
we would find all kinds of different living things
like saguaro cacti, jackrabbits, tarantulas,
silver-haired bats and the roadrunner,
which is my personal favorite.
So we can say that the desert is actually quite biodiverse.
So in other words,
it's home to a large variety of living things.
Since there are both big and small differences
between different living things,
we can think of biodiversity on three different levels.
So the first and smallest scale level
is going to be genetic biodiversity,
which is just the genetic variation
within a group of organisms.
And a really great example of this kind of biodiversity
is the rock pocket mouse.
, And I know, that's a mouthful of words to say.
But it's really cute.
I mean, look at this picture.
So this is a species that can actually be found right here
in the Sonoran Desert.
And the cool thing about this mouse species
is that there exists both tan
and black-colored rock pocket mice.
So even though both colored rodents
come from the same species,
there are genetic biodiversity
creates mice with completely different traits.
And what's even more awesome
is the fact that these colors, tan and black,
have come about due to natural selection.
So scientists have found
that there are more black-colored rock pocket mice
in places with dark black-ish lava rock.
While there are more tan-colored rock pocket mice
in lighter colored sands.
And this makes sense because if you think about it,
the mice are hunted from above by predators like birds.
So having a coat color that blends into their surroundings
would increase their chances of survival.
So having this kind of genetic biodiversity is really great,
because the rock pocket mice
can use many different colored landscapes as habitats.
And if let's say the landscape color were to change
and suddenly become dominated by dark lava rock,
then this population of mice
