Outline reasons for the need to maintain biodiversity

Explain why populations and species can become extinct as a result of: • climate change • competition • hunting by humans • degradation and loss of habitats

Use Simpson’s index of diversity (D) to calculate the biodiversity of an area, and state the significance of different values of D (the formula for Simpson’s index of diversity will be provided, as shown in the Mathematical requirements)

Use Spearman’s rank correlation and Pearson’s linear correlation to analyse the relationships between two variables, including how biotic and abiotic factors affect the distribution and abundance of species (the formulae for these correlations will be provided, as shown in the Mathematical requirements)Use Spearman’s rank correlation and Pearson’s linear correlation to analyse the relationships between two variables, including how biotic and abiotic factors affect the distribution and abundance of species (the formulae for these correlations will be provided, as shown in the Mathematical requirements)

Describe and use suitable methods to assess the distribution and abundance of organisms in an area, limited to frame quadrats, line transects, belt transects and mark-releaserecapture using the Lincoln index (the formula for the Lincoln index will be provided, as shown in the Mathematical requirements)

Explain the importance of random sampling in determining the biodiversity of an area

Explain that biodiversity can be assessed at different levels, including: • the number and range of different ecosystems and habitats • the number of species and their relative abundance • the genetic variation within each species

Define the terms ecosystem and niche

Outline how viruses are classified, limited to the type of nucleic acid (RNA or DNA) and whether this is single stranded or double stranded

Outline the characteristic features of the kingdoms Protoctista, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia