Biodiversity

Question 6 • NY-Life Science: BiologyTerm 2 Hillcrest

Which best explains why a decrease in the types of insects in an ecosystem reduces the sustainability of the ecosystem?

Answer

Organisms that depend on insects may not survive, eventually harming all the organisms that are interconnected.

The biodiversity of the ecosystem cannot be protected by laws unless there are a certain number of insect species.

There will likely be fewer insects that harm plants, causing an increase in plant diversity.

Having fewer insects allows other organisms to use the resources that the insects were using.

Explanation

Insects are part of many food webs: some organisms eat them, and others depend on them for pollination or other ecosystem roles. If insect diversity decreases, organisms that rely on insects may struggle to survive, causing effects to spread through the interconnected ecosystem. Choice A describes this chain of harm; the other choices do not explain how reduced insect diversity generally threatens sustainability.

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