Questions

As resources become more abundant then number of individuals should also increase. As number of individuals increase then the number of species should increase. Due to chance alone, the number of rare species should also increase as well (Gurevitch et al. 2006).Therefore, the more abundant the resources are the more biodiversity is promoted. Disclaimer: It really also depends on what those resources are, what species are present (invasive vs non-invasive) etc. Larger areas essentially means that it is more likely to have more habitats within that larger area. More habitats then in turn means more available habitat to certain species which would promote biodiversity. Barriers to dispersal can cause speciation which then promotes biodiversity. Different species live in different habitats. If there is an increase in the number of habitats then there should be an increase in the number of different species occupying those habitats (especially for species that have specialized habitats). Habitat fragmentation decreases biodiversity dramatically. Cutting off gene flow from one fragment to another is not conducive to biodiversity. Being closer to the center of an area means species will be able to interact, find others of the same species, pass on genes with those same species and promote diversity. Being closer to the center also helps the species with edge effects.