Library Index :: Science Encyclopedia :: Extinction and Endangered Species - Defining And Naming Life On Earth, Biodiversity, What Are Endangered Species?, Mass Extinction, U.s. History—some Extinctions And Some Close Calls
 

Extinction and Endangered Species - Biodiversity

Biodiversity is short for biological diversity. It refers to the richness and variety of living organisms across the planet. Biodiversity is important at levels within the taxonomic table and at the genetic level. For example, all humans are members of one species—Homo sapiens—but humans can vary widely in their personal characteristics, such as race, hair color, and eye color. These differences are due to slight variations in genetic material from person to person. Genetic biodiversity results in different individual properties within a species. It also helps ensure that deformities or disorders in genetic material do not become concentrated in a population.

Inbreeding is mating between closely related individuals with extremely similar genetic material. It is almost certain that if one of these individuals has any kind of gene disorder, the other individual will also have it. This disorder might not cause any notable problems in the parents, but could become concentrated in the offspring and cause serious health problems for them. This explains why there is a certain lower limit to the population of some species, particularly those that are isolated in a specific location. If the population falls too low, the remaining individuals will be so closely related that any inherent gene problems can kill off the resulting offspring and ultimately wipe out the entire species.

Additional Topics

Studio Operations and Market Strategies - THE MAJOR-MINORS AND THE MINOR STUDIOS, THE MAJOR STUDIOS

The war era saw a growing rift between the Big Five and the other studios in terms of production and management operations as well as overall market strategies. The major studios, with their superior resources, were able to respond to the wartime market more aggressively than the lesser studio powers. While the Little Three and the Poverty Row studios certainly benefited from the war boom, their o…

Studio-based Units and In-house Independents - CASE STUDY : DORE SCHARY AT MGM , VANGUARD, AND RKO

The studios had little choice but to accommodate filmmakers who expressed independent inclinations, given the wartime demand for top talent and for a steady flow of highend product. Thus, by early 1944, according to Variety , ?Hollywood?s most important independent producers [were] setting virtually their own terms with distributors.? 43 At that time, 71 units were scheduled to deliver 196 feature…

The Wartime Surge in Independent Production

In February 1942, Variety ran a prescient analysis of the unit phenomenon as it had developed over the preceding months. In 1941, noted Variety , ?company after company has swung away from the system of front-office assignment of producers, which they have used for years, toward the unit idea.? Now the war economy ?is expected to still further spur the rush toward unit production which has marked …

Working the First-Run Market - SELLING MILDRED PIERCE : A CASE STUDY IN MOVIE PROMOTION, Mary Beth Haralovich

With the financial stakes and profit potential going up with each wartime release, and with the 1940 consent decree spurring a move to unit sales, the studios steadily adjusted both their market strategies and their marketing operations. Variety reported in September 1942 that the majors were increasing their ?exploitation? budgets by 25 percent that year, and in April 1943 Advertising Age noted t…

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