Biodiversity and Natural Resources

Question 1

Define species.

Answer 1

A group of organisms with similar physiological, anatomical and behavioural adaptations which can interbreed to produce fertile offspring.

Question 2

Define habitat.

Answer 2

The place where an organism lives.

Question 3

Define population.

Answer 3

Interbreeding individuals of the same species.

Question 4

Define community.

Answer 4

Populations in a habitat.

Question 5

Define niche.

Answer 5

How an organism exploits its habitat.

Question 6

Define behavioural adaptations.

Answer 6

Actions allowing an organism to survive and reproduce.

Question 7

Define physiological adaptations.

Answer 7

Internal workings of an organism allowing it to survive and reproduce.

Question 8

Describe anatomical adaptations.

Answer 8

Visible adaptations of an organism that can be seen when observed or dissected.

Question 9

Describe natural selection.

Answer 9

A mutation leads to the development of a beneficial adaptation. Organisms with this mutation survive, breed more and pass on the adaptation. Organisms without the adaptation die. This results in a change in allele frequency.

Question 10

What factors is natural selection reliant on?

Answer 10

Strength of selection pressure.
Size of gene pool.
Reproductive rate of organism.

Question 11

What are the conditions of Hardy Weinberg.

Answer 11

No mutations.
No alleles introduced or lost, thus no emigration or immigration.
No selection of favour.
Mating and alleles are random.
Large population.

Question 12

What is the hierarchy of taxonomy?

Answer 12

Kingdom
Phyla
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species.

Question 13

What are the five kingdoms?

Answer 13

Animalia
Plantae
Fungi
Protoctista
Prokaroytae.

Question 14

Describe cellulose.

Answer 14

Beta glucose. Condensation reaction. 1,4 glycosidic bonds. Straight chain.
Hydrogen bonds between neighbouring OH groups, forming helical microfibrils.
Held together by hemicellulose and pectins.

Question 15

Describe the xylem.

Answer 15

Large cells with thick cell walls.
Transports water and mineral ions upwards.
Waterproofed by lignin.
Restricts entry of water and solutes.
Dead cells.

Water diffuses out of the stoma, down a diffusion gradient, in a transpiration stream.

Question 16

What are nitrate ions needed for?

Answer 16

Required to produce amino acids.

Question 17

What are magnesium ions for?

Answer 17

Required to make chlorophyll.

Question 18

What are calcium ions for?

Answer 18

Required for growth.

Question 19

Describe the phloem.

Answer 19

Has perforated end walls which are sieve plates.
Transports organic molecules up and down via translocation.

Contains companion cells which contain all organelles.

Question 20

Describe the sclerenchyma.

Answer 20

Supports the cell.
Waterproofed by lignin.
Keeps the cell turgid.

Question 21

Describe what Withering did.

Answer 21

Discovered and recorded the side effects of digitalis (dropsy).
Checked the right dosage.

Question 22

Describe pre-clinical testing.

Answer 22

Involves testing on animals and laboratory studies.

Question 23

Describe Phase I of drug testing.

Answer 23

Small group of healthy volunteers.

Question 24

Describe Phase II of drug testing.

Answer 24

Small group of volunteers with the disease.

Question 25

Describe Phase III of drug testing.

Answer 25

Large group of patients suffering from the disease in a double blind trial.

Question 26

What are seeds used for?

Answer 26

Protect embryo.
Aid dispersal.
Provide nutrition.

Question 27

Describe starch as packaging.

Answer 27

Starch granules cannot dissolve in water. Therefore they are heated in water, in a process called gelatinisation, they swell and thicken.

Cross-linked starch is absorbent and able to take up large amounts of water.

Question 28

Describe oil-based fuels.

Answer 28

Produce carbon dioxide.
Non-renewable.
Non-biodegradable.

Question 29

Describe plant-based fuels.

Answer 29

Carbon neutral.

Biodegradable.

Question 30

What is captive breeding used for?

Answer 30

Increasing the number of individuals in a species.
Maintaining genetic diversity.
Reintroducing animals into the wild.

Question 31

Define inbreeding depression.

Answer 31

Inbreeding results in the inheritance of recessive alleles.

Question 32

What is a studbook?

Answer 32

Raw data of breeding plans and the current population. Encourages animals to breed.

Question 33

What conditions are seeds kept in?

Answer 33

Cool and dry.

Question 34

What does the Millennium Seed Bank do?

Answer 34

Germination is tested every 10 years. If germination falls below 75% then seeds will be grown to collect a new sample.

Aims to have 25% of all species by 2020.

Question 35

Describe genetic drift.

Answer 35

Some alleles may not be passed on in a small population by chance. Genetic drift is the change in allele frequency over time.
Inbreeding leads to a rise in homozygous alleles and a loss of heterozygous alleles.

Question 36

We were literally never taught this but it’s in the spec apparently so: what is the calculation for heterozygosity index?

Answer 36

Heterozygosity index = number of heterozygotes divided by the number of individuals in the population.

Question 37

What are the three domains?

Answer 37

Bacteria, Archaea, Eukaryota.