How does the condition of a population's "genetic pool" relate to the ability of the population (or species) to survive over time in its environment? How does this relate to the concepts of "endangered" or "threatened" species? Can you find any examples? Does an organism's "genetic pool" and ecological diversity within a ecological community or the biosphere effect the stability of life on the planet?
References (among many others):
http://www.worldwildlife.org/endangered/index.cfm
http://www.fws.gov/endangered/
http://www.endangeredspecie.com/
The pool carries DNA information that has been developed over many years that has been changed to allow the species to survive in the environment they are most adapter to. This can a have a large effect on the species to keep their numbers up. For whatever reason a species may be forced to relocate (human encounter, fire or other natural disaster, etc...) if the remaining species doesn't have the information to be able to survive in this new environment there numbers will fade away until and IF evolution can reprogram the DNA for the species to go from just survival to prosperous. This in turn can through the balance off when any tier of the food chain is changed by effecting the link under it (lack herbivores to keep plants under control) and the link above (a lack of food to maintain their current numbers). This should also take into consideration effects that would take place when the shift happens (shortage of graze land, interaction of species that were normally separated, etc...)
So while most animals already have the equipment to live in their current environment any shift that disturb the balance or took place before evolution could make correction or adaptations could lead to the endangerment of species.
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