Student Number: __________________

Caringbah High School

Biology: HSC Course
Semester 1 Exam 2012

Write all your answers in this answer booklet.

Use pen for written responses and pencil for diagrams and graphs.

Total Marks: 80
Exam Length: 2 hours + 5 minutes reading time
PART A: Multiple Choice Questions (15 marks)
PART B: Longer Response Questions (65 marks)

MARK

OUTCOME
Knowledge and Understanding
Q 1-37

Exam Prepared by: J. Morgan

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Practical investigations
Q 29

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Problem solving
Q 26, 27b

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PART A: Circle the letter of the BEST answer on the grid provided on page 4. (15 marks)
1. Scientists are studying the evolutionary history of a group of plants in the United States, and they
develop an evolutionary tree, as shown below.

What information about the organisms best helps the scientists to determine the evolutionary
relationships among them?
A.
B.
C.
D.

DNA sequences
Anatomical features
Habitat types
Reproductive strategies

2. Examine the following drawings

The Tasmanian tiger and the American grey wolf evolved independently of each other, but show similar
physical characteristics and hunting behaviours. The similarity between the two organisms is most likely
due to
A.
B.
C.
D.

homologous structures
convergent evolution
divergent evolution
genetic drift

3. When a large number of bacteria are placed on a medium that contains streptomycin, most of the
bacteria die. Those that survive are then placed on a second dish that contains the same amount of
streptomycin. Now most bacteria survive. Why do they survive?
A.
B.
C.
D.
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They could not produce antibodies.

They have a natural resistance to the streptomycin.
They were able to build up a natural immunity to the streptomycin.
They did not come into contact with enough streptomycin to kill them.
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4. After a period of vigorous activity you would expect blood leaving a muscle to have
A.
B.
C.
D.

less carbon dioxide, less oxygen and less glucose

more carbon dioxide, more oxygen and less glucose
more carbon dioxide, more oxygen and more glucose
more carbon dioxide, less oxygen and less glucose.

5. Use the following graph to answer this question.

Which graph illustrates the rate of an enzyme-catalysed reaction occurring in the stomach if the pH is
decreased from pH 6 to pH 2 at Time T?
A.
B.
C.
D.

W
X
Y
Z

6. The enzyme amylase will affect the breakdown of carbohydrates, but it will not affect the breakdown
of proteins. The ability of an enzyme molecule to interact with specific molecules is most directly
determined by the:
A.
B.
C.
D.

shapes of the molecules involved

number of molecules involved
sequence of bases present in ATP
amount of glucose present in the cell

7. Which of the following correctly identifies a source of variation in both asexual and sexual
reproduction?

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8. Laundry powder is sometimes advertised as containing powerful enzymes that break down dirt. These
enzymes are called extremozymes. This table gives the optimal functioning of enzymes from some of
these species.

Given this information and your knowledge of enzyme function, the best enzyme to add to the laundry
powder would be
A.
B.
C.
D.

enzyme J.
enzyme K.
enzyme L.
enzyme M

9. Barley plants are salt tolerant. The table below shows the accumulation of salt in different parts of a
barley plant grown in a salt solution over 7 days.

Using the table, which of the following methods is the barley plant using to control salt levels?
A.
B.
C.
D.

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salt exclusion (stop salt entering tissues)

salt excretion (salt glands, often in leaves, actively excrete salt)
control of salt movement (keeping salt in the roots or older parts of the plant)
osmotic adjustment (keeping higher concentrations of solutes in plant cells)

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10. The following diagram shows a labelled cross-section of a human kidney.

Which of the following regions is involved in the direct removal of urine to the bladder?
A.
B.
C.
D.

the ureter
the renal artery
the renal vein
the medulla

11. Diagrams of blood vessels are shown (not to scale).

Which of the following correctly lists the names of the blood vessels shown?

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12. In which of these examples would you expect to find two different sets of genetic information?
A.
B.
C.
D.

Two muscle cells, one in each of two identical (monozygotic) twins.

Two nerve cells in the same person.
Two ova in the same person.
A liver cell and a skin cell in the same person.

13. How are lipids transported in mammalian blood?

A.
B.
C.
D.

They are attached to proteins.

They are dissolved in the blood.
They are part of the membrane of red blood cells.
They are attached to haemoglobin in red blood cells.

14. In humans, brown eye colour is dominant and blue eye colour is recessive. A brown-eyed boy and a
blue-eyed girl have a blue-eyed mother. What eye colour does the father have and why?
A.
B.
C.
D.

Brown, because the gene for brown eye colour is sex linked.
Brown, because at least one of the parents must have brown eyes.
Blue, because at least two other members of the family have blue eyes.
Blue, because at least one of the parents must be heterozygous for eye colour.

15. Which alternative best describes what happens to oxygen and carbon dioxide as blood travels through
the lungs and muscles?

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PART A: Answer the multiple choice questions HERE. Circle the letter of the BEST answer.

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PART B: Longer Answers

MARKS

Question 16
3
Tall plants face a challenge in moving water upwards through their vascular system against gravity. Explain
how this upward movement is assisted in a plant.
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Question 17
Common brushtail possums inhabit forests and woodlands along the entire east coast of Australia.
Possums from the rainforests of north Queensland have copper-coloured fur, while those from Tasmania
are dark grey or black. In New South Wales and Victoria fur colour is typically a light brownish-grey.
3
a.Explain how such variations in fur colour may have arisen in these populations of brushtail possums.
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b. The three colour variants are assumed to belong to the same species. What evidence is needed to prove
that this assumption is correct?
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Question 18
Compare the concentration of substances in the renal artery and the renal vein.

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Question 19
The diagram shows a partial cross section of the stem of a vascular plant. Label and name the cells through
which translocation occurs.
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Question 20
In donkeys coat colour can be grey or red. Grey coat colouring (G) is dominant to red coat colour (g). Study
the following pedigree which shows the coat inheritance for one breeding pair of donkeys.
3

a. From the information above determine the colour of the female donkey 1. Show your reasoning.
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b. If 3 and 4 have another foal, what is the chance it will have a grey coat? Show your working.
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Question 21
The diagram outlines a negative feedback system.

Use the diagram to explain an example of a temperature regulation mechanism.

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Question 22
Mangroves are plants that grow in the intertidal zone where the environment is affected by the rise and
fall of the tide. Describe the daily variations that would occur in salinity and how these variations are likely
to affect the organisms living in the ecosystem on a daily basis.
2
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Question 23
Construct a table to compare the process of renal dialysis with the function of the kidney.

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Question 24
Potoroos are small omnivorous marsupials commonly found in the Tasmanian bush and there are
other populations of the same, and related species, on the mainland. The map below shows the
distribution for the potoroo.

Describe a sequence of events that explains how the four species of potoroo might have evolved from a
common ancestral population.
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Question 25
Clarify, using an example, the difference between the terms allele and gene.

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Question 26
The table shows seven tortoise species, the type of habitat each occupies and the nitrogenous wastes
produced.
3

Write a conclusion from the data about the relationship between the production of uric acid and/or
ammonia and the type of habitat. Explain your conclusion using theoretical concepts.
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Question 27
a. Why is glucose found in the blood but not in the urine? Use your knowledge of how the kidney
functions to explain your answer fully.

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b. The table below shows the concentrations of dissolved substances in the urine of a healthy person and
the urine of a person with one type of kidney disease.

Explain the difference in composition of the urine between the healthy person and the person with the
kidney disease.
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c. A study measured the concentration of antidiuretic hormone (ADH) in the blood of 69 healthy elderly
volunteers at 4-hourly intervals throughout a 24-hour period. ADH secretion normally exhibits a diurnal
rhythm, with increased ADH secretion at night. This expected increase in ADH levels during the night
was less evident in the majority of this group. Why would these lower levels of ADH result in the elderly
volunteers needing to empty their bladders one or more times during the night? Explain.
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Question 28
Read this article about head lice

Head lice are becoming indestructible. A study found that about 80% of lice are resistant to insecticides in
over-the-counter shampoos, and resistance will only increase. Evolutionary biologist Dale Clayton may have a
new line of attack.
Clayton, who usually studies lice on bird feathers, stumbled onto his solution after a major research setback.
When he moved his laboratory from England to the University of Utah a decade ago, his entire louse collection
perished in the dry desert air. Soon after, his 8-year-old came home from school with head lice. He wondered
if human head lice could also be killed by drying them out. After conventional hair dryers failed, Clayton came
up with the LouseBuster, a device resembling a vacuum cleaner that dries out the lice with a jet of hot air.
Tests show the invention is both safe and effective, eradicating 80 percent of live lice and 98 percent of eggs,
leaving survivors unable to breed. And, Clayton says, it will be awfully hard for lice to develop resistance.

Design a controlled experiment to determine the effect of hot, dry air on head lice. In your experimental
design, be sure to:
state the hypothesis to be tested in the experiment
outline a logical procedure
explain how you would ensure the validity and reliability of your experiment
state one result of the experiment that would support the hypothesis
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Question 29
Farmers have tried to increase milk yield through hybridisation of cattle. This bar chart shows the change
in mean milk yield per cow in the USA from 1940 to 1995.
3

a. Describe a process that might have been used to achieve this outcome.
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b. Some cattle breeders concluded that hybridisation improved the milk yield per cow. Evaluate this
conclusion.
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Question 30
Using examples, outline how biogeography can provide evidence to support the theory of evolution.

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Question 31
This graph represents the relationship between body temperature and air temperature for two groups of
Australian animals, ectotherms and endotherms.
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a. Name the group of animals (ectotherms or endotherms) represented by curve I. Explain your answer.
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b. Describe and explain an adaptation used by an Australian ectotherm to regulate their body
temperature.
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c. Describe and explain an adaptation used by an Australian endotherm to regulate their body
temperature.
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Question 32
a. Identify a species you have studied that has changed as a result of environmental change.

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b. Outline the factors in the environment that changed in your example and how they had an effect on the
species.
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c. Discuss how changes in the species named in part (a) provide evidence for the theory of evolution.
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Question 33
Using an example you have studied, explain why the scientific community makes changes to classification
systems.
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