1) A.

species diversity refers to the variety of species per unit area; it includes both the number of
species present and their relative abundance.
Habitat diversity is often associated with the variety of ecological niches (in how many places life
could happen/occur) In other terms, the range of different habitats in an ecosystem biome.
B. The table above is portraying the three different types of habitat for the birds species. The
farmland, despite having the lowest number of birds and a notably less bird biomass than the
city. This is caused by the high number of species in the area vet also by the high eveness, that
refers to the relative abundance of each specie.
C. Speciation: is the formation of new species when populations of a species become isolated
and evolve differently.
ii) Natural selection may influence speciation by working on each population so that, through
evolution, new species are formed. However, this will only occurred if the environments of the
isolated populations are different.
iii) The isolation of a population of an organism could alter the characteristics of the species over
time by becoming geographically isolated from each other. As local environmental and biological
conditions are different on each island; for instance, different species evolved to inhabit
different ecological niches. In addition, gene flow is practically impossible to take place due to
the distance of each island.
2) The last mass extinction registered was the tertiary extinction (65 millions years ago), was
probably caused by the impact of a several-mile-wide asteroid. It’s also possible that there had
been flood-like volcanic eruptions of basalt lava and/or that tectonic plate movement
contribubuted with the extinction. The End Triassic extinction occurred roughly 199 to 214
million years ago and was most likely caused by massive floods of lava erupting from an opening
in the Atlantic ocean, leading to climate change. Triassic Extinction: occurred about 251 million
years ago and it is suspected to had been caused by a comet or asteroid impact or a flood
volcanism. However, some scientists believe that plate movement may have contributed to the
Permian extinction. The Late Devonian extinction occurred about 364 million years ago and was
mainly caused by global cooling. The Silurian extinction occurred about 439 million years ago
and was caused by a drop in sea levels as glaciers formed, then by rising sea levels as glaciers
melted.
B. That the current mass extinction would be the first, and therefore the unique, to have biotic
factors (human activities), rather than biotic causes.
C. One animal specie in critically endangered is the Iberian lynx. As descriptive and distinctive
aspects, this specie has leopard-like spots with a coat that is often light grey or various shades of
light brownish yellow. It’s smaller than most of its relatives and hunt smaller animals, usually no
loner than hares. Furthermore, inhabit open scrub areas. They are specialized feeder, and
rabbits account most of their diet. Their highly specialized diet make them naturally vulnerable
species and the rapid decline in rabbits population since 1950s has had a direct impact on lynx
number. Hunting activities also have had an impact on their population decrease. Nowadays, the
Iberian Lynx is protected under national law in Spain and Portugal, public awareness and
education programmes have helped to change attitudes towards the animal, particularly among
private landowners.
One specie improved by intervention was the American Bald eagle. It was selected as a national
emblem of the USA due to its exclusively in North America. They live near large bodies of open
 water and they nest and roost in tall trees. During the winter they migrate to the warmer
southern areas. They fish primarily on fish but also eat small animals and occasional carrion.
Their population fell to fewer than 10000 nesting pairs by the 1950s and to fewer than 500 by
the early 1960s. The decline was caused by the mass shooting of eagles, the use of pesticides on
crops, the destruction of habitats and the contamination of waterways and food sources by a
wide range of poisons and pollutants. The use of DDT was finally outlawed in the USA in 1972,
the bald eagle was listed as endangered specie in USA from 1967 to 1995, this two aspects
contributed in the improvement of the specie which nowadays is estimated above 10000
nesting pairs.
D. Some species can be more prone to extinction owing to certain characteristics like little or no
genetic variation (no chance to adapt to prominent environmental changes, examples are north
elephant seal and saiga antelope). Disease (the introduction of a non native specie so no local
immunity) example, Darwin Galapagos mouse. Coextinction (loss of one specie causes extinction
of the other), example, the bird lice found on passenger pigeons went extinct when their host
did. Small habitat area (not enough species to survive) example, Percy Island flying fox. Poor
competitors, example, Dodo -cannot fly-.
On the contrary, species less prone to extinction are the ones who have high genetic variation,
are broadly distributed and are strong competitors with high diet variety. Example, rats, roachs.
3) Overgrazing: This could be seriously reduced by a proper management of animals and using the
different grazing techniques according to the convenient situation. Also by monitoring rainfall
patterns and the growth of pasture.
Industrial and urban growth: In order to avoid a direct impact on plants species with the
expansions of cities and subsequently of humanity, more parks or reserves should be create
where this species that are being affected by Indstrial or urban growth can be planted under the
state care.
4) A. Considering Mallorca is a quite isolated island, speciation could be a potential reason why
biodiversity within the Albufera is so high. Moreover, as it is an international important wetland
reserve (the fact that the area is crossed by a river and it is limiting with the sea is also a booster
for more genetic variation and the development of more species) there must be under the care
of the state or some environmental organisation.
B. River contamination
Introduction of new species (foreign to the place)
Loss of one specie (due to diseases or lack of competition on the appearance of a new
specie)
Illegal human hunting
C. In site 5 as plants are rounded by hotels and hence by human beings they might be more
contaminated and as their grown space is limited there might be less richness and eveness than
site 1. However, the fact that plants are grown in sand dune ecosystem is not a reason to believe
there should be high habitat diversity.
D. There should be a higher diversity of insects in site 4 cause it provides more adequate
habitat diversity for them(more genetic variation there also) more competition (can be easily
fed and therefore a food chain is formed fomenting a balanced population.