In: Biology
The relationship between species richness and potential evapotranspiration (PET) is:
Group of answer choices
An exponential relationship known as the evaporation-richness hypothesis
A linear relationship known as the evaporation-richness hypothesis
A linear relationship known as the energy-diversity hypothesis
A logarithmic relationship known as the energy-diversity hypothesis
Ans: Species richness is the number of different species represented in an ecological community, landscape or region. Species richness is simply a count of species, and it does not take into account the abundances of the species or their relative abundance distributions.
Potential evaporation (PE) or potential evapotranspiration (PET) is defined as the amount of evaporation that would occur if a sufficient water source were available.
The relationship between species richness and potential evapotranspiration (PET) is a logarithmic relationship known as the energy-diversity hypothesis.
The species energy hypothesis suggests the amount of available energy sets limits to the richness of the system. Thus, increased solar energy (with an abundance of water) at low latitudes causes increased net primary productivity (or photosynthesis).