Chapter 1: Characteristics and classification of living organisms

1.1 Characteristics of living organisms

(Describe the characteristics of living organisms) by defining the terms
● Movement​ as an action by an organism or part of an organism causing a change of position or
place
● Respiration​ as the chemical reactions in cells that break down nutrient molecules and release
energy for metabolism
● Sensitivity​ as the ability to detect or sense stimuli in the internal or external environment and
to make appropriate responses
● Growth​ as a permanent increase in size and dry mass by an increase in cell number or cell size
or both
● Excretion​ as removal from organisms of the waste products of metabolism (chemical
reactions in cells including respiration), toxic materials, and substances in excess of
requirements
● Nutrition​ as taking in of materials for energy, growth and development; plants require light,
carbon dioxide, water and ions; animals need organic compounds and ions and usually need
water

1.2 Concepts and use of classification system

State that organisms can be classified into groups by the features that they share

Define species as...

● A group of organisms that can reproduce to produce fertile offspring
Define and describe the binomial system of naming species as an internationally agreed system in
which the scientific name of an organism is made up of two parts showing the genus and species
● E.g. a Lion is a ​Panthera Leo

1.3 Features of organism

List the features in the cells of all living organisms, limited to cytoplasm, cell membrane and DNA as
genetic material, ribosomes for protein synthesis and enzymes involved in respiration

List the main features used to place all organisms into one of the five kingdoms: Animal, Plant,
Fungus, Prokaryotic, Protoctista
● Animal kingdom
○ Multicellular organism

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 ○ No cell wall or chloroplast
● Plant kingdom
○ Multicellular
○ Cell wall made up of cellulose
○ Contains chloroplast with photosynthetic pigments
○ Make their own food by photosynthesis
● Fungi kingdom
○ Made up of thread-like hyphae, rather than cells
○ Many nuclei distributed throughout the cytoplasm in their hyphae
○ Mushrooms, toadstools, puffballs, bracket fungi that grow on tree trunks.
○ Mould fungi which grow on stale bread, cheese, fruit or other food.
● Prokaryote kingdom
○ Bacteria and blue-green algae.
○ Consist of single cells.
○ (Different to other single-cell organisms) Chromosomes are not organised into a
nucleus.
○ Each bacterial cell contains a single chromosome, consisting of a circular strand of
DNA.
○ The chromosome is not enclosed in a nuclear membrane but is coiled up to occupy
part of the cell.
● Protoctista kingdom
○ Single-celled (unicellular) organisms
○ Their chromosomes enclosed in a nuclear membrane to form a nucleus.
○ Euglena, possess chloroplasts and make their food by photosynthesis. Often referred
to as unicellular ‘plants’ or
○ Amoeba and Paramecium, take in and digest solid food.

List the main features used to place organisms into groups within the animal kingdom, limited to:
● The main groups of vertebrates
○ Fish
■ E.g. perch, shark
■ Body covered with scales
■ Uses fins to move
■ No ears, lateral lining
■ Cold blooded, gills for breathing

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 ○ Amphibia
■ E.g. frog, toad
■ Moist skin
■ 4 limbs, back feet for swimming
■ Cold blooded, lungs for breathing
○ Reptiles
■ E.g. lizard, snake
■ Dry skin with scales
■ 4 legs (apart from snakes)
■ Produce eggs with a rubbery waterproof shell; laid on land
■ Cold blooded
○ Birds
■ E.g. robin, pigeon
■ Feathers, with scales on legs
■ 2 wings, 2 legs
■ Produce eggs with a hard shell; laid on land
■ Has eyes and ears
■ Warm blooded, has lungs for breathing, has beak
○ Mammals
■ E.g. mouse, humans
■ Fur
■ Produce live young
■ Has eyes, ears with pinna (external flap)
■ Warm blooded, lungs for breathing, females have mammary glands to
produce milk to feed young.
■ 4 types of teeth
● The four classes of arthropods
○ Insects
■ E.g. dragonfly, wasp
■ 3 pairs of legs
■ Body divided into head, thorax and abdomen
■ 1 pair of antennae
■ 1 pair of compound eyes
■ Usually 2 pairs of wings
○ Arachnids

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 ■ E.g. spider, mite
■ 4 pairs of legs
■ Body divided into cephalothorax and abdomen
■ No antennae
■ Several pairs of simple eyes
■ Chelicerae for biting and poisoning prey
○ Crustacea
■ E.g. card, woodlouse
■ 5+ pairs of legs
■ Body divided into cephalothorax and abdomen
■ 2 pairs of antennae
■ 1 pair of compound eyes
■ Exoskeleton often calcified to form a carapace
○ Myriapods
■ E.g. centipede, millipede
■ 10+ pairs of legs
■ Body not obviously divided into thorax and abdomen
■ 1 pair of antennae
■ Simple eyes

List the main features used to place organisms into groups within the plant kingdom, limited to ferns
and flowering plants (dicotyledons and monocotyledons)
● Flowering plants
○ Monocotyledon
■ Long and narrow leaf shape, parallel leaf veins, one cotyledons, flowers
grouped in threes
○ Dicotyledon
■ Broad leaf shape, branching leaf veins, two cotyledons, flowers grouped in
fives

List the features of viruses, limited to protein coat and genetic material
● Viruses
○ Have a central core of RNA or DNA surrounded by a protein coat.
○ No nucleus, cytoplasm, cell organelles or cell membrane.
○ Virus particles therefore are not cells. (Not living thing)

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 ○ Do not feed, respire, excrete or grow.
○ The coat is made up of regularly packed protein units called capsomeres each
containing many protein molecules.
○ The protein coat is called a capsid.

1.4 Dichotomous keys

Construct and use simple dichotomous keys based on easily identifiable features
● Used to identify unfamiliar organisms.
● They simplify the process of identification.
● Each key is made up of pairs of contrasting features. (dichotomous means two branches)

Chapter 2: Organization of the cell

2.1 Cell structure and organisation

Describe and compare the structure of a plant cell with an animal cell, as seen under a light
microscope, limited to cell wall, nucleus, cytoplasm, chloroplasts, vacuoles and location of the cell
membrane and state the functions of the structures seen under the light microscope in the plant cell
and in the animal cell

State that the cytoplasm of all cells contains structures, limited to ribosomes on rough endoplasmic
reticulum and vesicles

State that almost all cells, except prokaryotes, have mitochondria and rough endoplasmic reticulum

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State that aerobic respiration occurs in mitochondria

Identify mitochondria and rough endoplasmic reticulum in diagrams and images of cells

State that cells with high rates of metabolism require large numbers of mitochondria to provide
sufficient energy

2.2 Levels of organisation

Relate the structure of the following to their functions
● Ciliated cells
○ Movement of mucus in the trachea and bronchi
○ Has a thin layer if moving “hairs” called cilia
● Root hair cells
○ Its function is to absorb water and minerals from the soil
○ Has long thin extension, the root hair, which provides a large surface area for
absorption to happen
● Xylem vessels
○ Transports water in the plant, as well as supports it
○ Xylem cells have no cytoplasm and no end walls, forming a continuous tube in which
water can pass freely
○ The cell walls are strengthened by lignin, a tough waterproof substance
● Palisade mesophyll cells
○ Photosynthesis
● Nerve cells
○ Conduction of impulses
● Red blood cells
○ Transport of oxygen

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 ○ Contains hemoglobin, a pigment that carries oxygen
○ No nucleus which increase volume of haemoglobin in the cell
○ Very flexible to move through narrow blood vessels
● Sperm and egg cells
○ Reproduction

Define tissue as…

● A group of cells with similar structures, working together to perform a shared function

Define organ as​ a structure

● Made up of a group of tissues, working together to perform specific functions

Define organ system as

● A group of organs with related functions, working together to perform body functions

Identify the different levels of organisation in drawings, diagrams and images of familiar and
unfamiliar material

2.3 Size of specimens

Calculate magnification and size of biological specimens using millimetres and micrometres as units
● 1000 micrometres in a millimetre

Chapter 3: Movement in and out of cells

3.1 Diffusion
Define diffusion as
● The net movement of particles from a region of their higher concentration to a region of their
lower concentration down a concentration gradient, as a result of their random movement

State that the energy for diffusion comes from the kinetic energy of random movement of molecules
and ions

Describe the importance of diffusion of gases and solutes

● Gases
○ (Animals) Necessary for gas exchange in all living organisms (O2 in, CO2 out)

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 ○ (Plants) Necessary for obtaining Carbon Dioxide and releasing oxygen during
photosynthesis.
● Solutes (liquids)
○ Dissolved salts diffuse through root hair cell.
○ Absorption of dissolved food material in many organisms, like amoeba, bacteria and
fungi is carried out through diffusion.
○ Some digested food material is absorbed by diffusion
● Water as a solvent
○ Plants cannot obtain minerals unless they are dissolved in water
○ Enzymes and hormones cannot be secreted unless they are dissolved in water
○ Excretory products cannot be excreted unless they are dissolved in water.

State that substances move into and out of cells by diffusion through the cell membrane

Investigate the factors that influence diffusion, limited to surface area, temperature, concentration
gradients and distance
● Surface area
○ The larger the surface area of the exchange membrane the faster particles diffuse.
● Temperature
○ Increasing the temperature will give particles more kinetic energy, making them
move faster, thus increasing the rate of diffusion.
● Concentration gradient
○ The steeper the gradient the faster the particles diffuse.
● Distance (Thickness of exchange membrane)
○ The thinner it is, the easier it will be for particles to go through it, the faster the
diffusion rate.

3.2 Osmosis
State that water diffuses through partially permeable membranes by osmosis

Define osmosis as...

● The net movement of water molecules from a region of higher water potential (dilute
solution) to a region of lower water potential (concentrated solution), through a partially
permeable membrane

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State that water moves in and out of cells by osmosis through the cell membrane

Investigate, describe and explain the effects on plant tissues of immersing them in solutions of
different concentrations by using the terms turgid, turgor pressure, plasmolysis and flaccid
● Turgid (normal)
○ If a plant cell is placed in distilled water (higher water potential that that inside the
cell), water molecules will move from the distilled water to the cell, the cell swells up
and becomes turgid but it will never burst because plant cells are surrounded by cell
walls, which are made of cellulose and is elastic, it will stretch but never break.
○ The vacuole is exerting turgor pressure on the elastic cell wall.
● Plasmolysis
○ If a place a plant cell in a concentrated salt solution with low water potential, water
will move from the cell to the solution causing the cell to become plasmolysed.
● Flaccid
○ When the plant is placed in a isotonic solution (same water potential), the plasma
membrane is not tightly against the cell wall when a cell is flaccid

Explain the importance of water potential and osmosis in the uptake of water by plants
● Plants gain water through osmosis in their roots from the soil. Without a water potential
gradient,water will be loss from the roots.
● Plant cells contain vacuoles, which, if not full with water, will cause the cell to become
flaccid. If all the cells in a leaf become flaccid, the whole leaf will become flaccid, hence
causing the plant to wilt.
● Plant cells therefore need water to remain turgid and keep firm.

Explain the importance of water potential and osmosis on animal cells and tissues
● If an animal cell surrounded with a high water potential, osmosis will take place, and if the
water is not expelled some way or another, the cell will burst (a process called haemolysis in
red blood cells).
● This is because an animal cell doesn’t have a cell wall to keep it strong. If an animal cell is
surrounded with low water potential, the water in the cytoplasm will diffuse outwards,
causing the cell to shrink (crenated)

Explain how plants are supported by the turgor pressure within cells, in terms of water pressure
acting against an inelastic cell wall

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3.3 Active Transport
Define active transport as
● The movement of particles through a cell membrane from a region of lower concentration to a
region of higher concentration using energy from respiration

Discuss the importance of active transport as a process for movement across membranes
● For example; uptake of glucose by epithelial cells in the villi of the small intestine (and by
kidney tubules)
● Uptake of ions from soil water by root hair cells in plants

Explain how protein molecules move particles across a membrane during active transport
● Carrier proteins pick up specific molecules and take them through the cell membrane against
the concentration gradient.
○ Substance combines with carrier protein molecule
○ Carrier transports substances across membrane using energy from respiration
○ Substances are released into cell

Chapter 4: Biological molecules

List the chemical elements that make up carbohydrates, fats and proteins
● Carbohydrates
○ Contain carbon, hydrogen, oxygen
○ Glucose C6H12O6
● Lipid
○ Contain carbon, hydrogen, oxygen
● Protein
○ Contain carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen
State that large molecules are made from smaller molecules
● Carbohydrates
○ Monosaccharides
■ Sugars with a single carbon ring, eg. glucose, fructose. (readily soluble in
water)
○ Disaccharide

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 ■ Sugars with two carbon rings, eg. maltose, sucrose. (readily soluble in water)
○ Polysaccharide
■ Many glucose molecules joined together, eg. glycogen (found in animals),
starch (found in plants).
■ (Not readily soluble in water)
○ Cellulose consists of even longer chains of glucose molecules.
■ Mono- and disaccharides are readily soluble in water.
● Proteins
○ Structural proteins
■ Proteins contributing to the structure of the cells, eg. to the cell membranes,
the mitochondria, ribosomes and chromosomes.
○ Enzymes
■ Control the chemical reactions that keep the cell alive. Present in the
membrane systems, in the mitochondria, in special vacuoles and in the fluid
part of the cytoplasm.
○ Proteins are large molecules made from smaller units of amino acids.
● Lipids
○ (fats = solid, lipids = liquid)
○ Lipids are large molecules made from smaller units of fatty acids and glycerol.

Describe the use of:

● Iodine solution test for starch
○ Turn blue black in the presence of starch. No presence, iodine will remain
yellow-brown
● Benedict’s solution to test for reducing sugars
○ Solution will change from clear blue, to cloudy green, then yellow, finally to a brick
red precipitate
● Biuret reagent to test for proteins
○ Turn purple when mixed with protein
● Emulsion test for lipids
○ Test substance is mixed with ethanol and equal volume of distilled water; if milky
white emulsion forms, the test substance contains lipid
● DCIP test for Vitamin C
○ Turns from blue to colorless when a positive test
○ To test which has more, keep dropping DCPIP until it becomes blue again

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Explain that different sequences of amino acids give different shapes to protein molecules
● There are about 20 different amino acids in animal protein, including alanine, leucine, valine,
glutamine, cysteine, glycine and lysine.
● A small protein molecule might be made up from a chain consisting of a hundred or so amino
acids.
● Each type of protein has its amino acids arranged in a particular sequence.
● The chain of amino acids in a protein takes up a particular shape as a result of cross-linkage.
● Cross-linkage form between amino acids that are not neighbours.

Relate the shape and structure of protein molecules to their function

● The shape and structure of a protein molecule has a very important effect on its reactions with
substances.
○ Active site of enzymes
○ Binding site of Antibodies
● Denature
○ When a protein is heated over 50’C, the cross-linkages in its molecules break down;
the protein molecules lose their shape and will not usually regain it even when cooled.
Eg. Egg white.

Describe the roles of water as a solvent in organisms with respect to digestion, excretion and
transport
● Most cells contain about 75% water
● Water is a good solvent and many substances move about the cells in a watery solution.
○ In green plants, water combines with CO2 to form sugar
○ In animals, water helps to break down and digest food molecules.
● Blood is made up of cells and a liquid called plasma. Plasma is 92% water and acts as a
transport medium for many dissolved substances. Blood cells are carried around the body in
the plasma.
● Water also acts as a transport medium in plants. Water passes up the plant from the roots to
the leaves in xylem vessels and carries with it dissolved mineral ion. Phloem vessels transport
sugars and amino acids in solution from leaves to their places of use or storage.
● Water plays an important role in excretion in animals. It acts as a powerful solvent for
excretory materials.
● Water has a diluting effect, reducing the toxicity if the excretory materials.

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Chapter 5: Enzymes
Define the term catalyst as...
● A substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction and is not changed by the reaction

Define enzymes as...

● Proteins that function as biological catalysts

Describe why enzymes are important in all living organisms in terms of reaction speed necessary to
sustain life
● Enzymes, like catalysts, can be used over and over again because they are not used up during
the reaction and only a small amount is needed to speed the reaction up.

Explain enzyme action with reference to the complementary shape of an enzyme, its substrate, the
formation of a product the active site, enzyme-substrate complex, substrate and product
● The enzymes and substrate molecules have complementary shapes (like adjacent pieces of a
jigsaw) so they fit together.
● Substrate:
○ The substance on which the enzyme acts.
● Products
○ The molecules produced
● Anabolic reaction
○ Reactions in which large molecules are built up from smaller molecules.
● Catabolic reaction
○ Reactions that splits large molecules into smaller ones.
● Enzyme-substrate complex
○ Is formed temporarily when the enzyme combines with the substrate.

Explain the specificity of enzymes in terms of the complementary shape and fit of the active site with
the substrate
● Enzymes are specific, this means simply that an enzyme which normally acts on one
substance will not act on a different one.
● The enzyme has a shape called the active site, which exactly fits the substances on which it
acts.

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 ● The shape of the active site of the enzyme molecule and the substrate molecules are
complementary.

Explain the effect of changes in temperature on enzyme activity in terms of kinetic energy, shape and
fit, frequency of effective collisions and denaturation
● The rate of an enzyme-catalysed reaction increases as the temperature increases. However, at
high temperatures the rate decreases again because the enzyme becomes denatured and can no
longer function as a biological catalyst.
● As the temperature is increased, the molecules gain more kinetic energy, so they move faster
and there is a greater chance of collisions happening. Therefore the rate of reaction increases.
● Above the optimum temperature the reaction slows down. This is because enzyme molecules
are proteins. Proteins molecules start to lose their shape at higher temperatures, so the active
site becomes deformed. Substrate molecules cannot fit together with the enzyme, stopping the
reaction. (Denaturation)

Explain the effect of changes in pH on enzyme activity in terms of shape and fit and denaturation
● Changes in pH alter the shape of an enzyme’s active site. Different enzymes work best at
different pH values.
● The optimum pH for an enzyme depends on where it normally works. For example, intestinal
enzymes have an optimum pH of about 7.5, but stomach enzymes have an optimum pH of
about 2.
● Each enzyme has an optimum pH, if this pH changes, the shape of the active site of the
enzyme is changed (Denature), thus the substrate will not be able to fit in it, and the enzyme
becomes useless

Chapter 6: Plant Nutrition

6.1 Photosynthesis
Define photosynthesis as
● The process by which plants manufacture carbohydrates from raw materials using energy
from light

State the word equation for photosynthesis

● Carbon dioxide + water → glucose + oxygen (in the presence of light and chlorophyll)

State the balanced chemical equation for photosynthesis

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 ● 6CO2 + 6H2O → C6H12O6 + 6O2

Explain that chlorophyll transfers light energy into chemical energy in molecules, for the synthesis of
carbohydrates
● Photosynthesis is a process used by plants in which energy from sunlight is used to convert
carbon dioxide and water into molecules needed for growth. These molecules include sugars,
enzymes and chlorophyll.
● Light energy is absorbed by the green chemical chlorophyll. This energy allows the
production of glucose by the reaction between carbon dioxide and water. Oxygen is also
produced as a waste product.

Outline the subsequent use and storage of the carbohydrates made in photosynthesis
● Glucose (C6H12O6) is made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms. Glucose made by the
process of photosynthesis may be used in three ways:
○ It can be converted into chemicals required for growth of plant cells such as cellulose
○ It can be converted into starch, a storage molecule, that can be converted back to
glucose when the plant requires it
○ It can be broken down during the process of respiration, releasing energy stored in the
glucose molecules

Investigate the necessity for chlorophyll, light and carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, using
appropriate controls
● Test the need of chlorophyll
○ Destarch the plant by leaving it in the dark for 48 hours
○ Using a variegated part of plant (has both green and non-green parts), and leave in
sun for 6 hours
○ Use iodine to test for starch: only the green parts turn blue-black
● Test the need of carbon dioxide
○ Destarch the plant by leaving it in the dark for 48 hours
○ Enclose one plant in a bag of soda lime, enclose another plant in a bag without soda
lime
○ Leave bag in sun for awhile, the use iodine to test for starch: bag with soda lime will
test negative for starch (stay brown)
● Test the need of light
○ Destarch the plant by leaving it in the dark for 48 hours

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 ○ Cover half the leaf with foil, while leaving another part open
○ Leave for awhile in sun, then test for starch with iodine: the part covered will test
negative, while only the part left uncovered will test positive

Investigate and describe the effects of varying light intensity, carbon dioxide concentration and
temperature on the rate of photosynthesis, e.g. in submerged aquatic plants
● Light intensity and carbon dioxide (similar trend)
○ Increase light intensity/carbon dioxide concentration will increase rate of
photosynthesis, but only until a certain point
○ When a certain intensity/concentration is reached, rate of photosynthesis will remain
constant (something else is limiting the rate)
● Temperature on the rate of photosynthesis
○ Increasing rate of temperature will increase rate of photosynthesis until a certain point
○ Rate of photosynthesis will start decreasing after this point as temperature increases
■ Enzymes that carry out photosynthesis do not work effectively at higher
temperatures. If the temperature gets too high, the enzymes lose their shape
and functionality, causing a rapid decrease in the rate of photosynthesis

Defin​ e the term limiting factor as...

● Something present in the environment in such short supply that it restricts life processes

Identify and explain the limiting factors of photosynthesis in different environmental conditions
● Limiting factors of photosynthesis are light intensity, carbon dioxide concentration and
temperature
● Scenario such as a place with too hot of a climate, temperature becomes the limiting factor of
photosynthesis

Describe the use of carbon dioxide enrichment, optimum light and optimum temperatures in
glasshouses in temperate and tropical countries
● Conditions in a glasshouse allow plants to grow earlier in the year and in places they would
not usually grow
○ Temperature
■ Electric heaters used in cold weather
■ Ventilating flaps to cool the glasshouse during hot temperatures
○ Light

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 ■ Glass lets in sunlight
■ Artificial lights if too dark, blinds if too bright
○ Carbon dioxide
■ Can pump CO2 into glasshouse to increase concentration
■ Can burn butane or natural gas, which additionally provides heat as well
○ Water
■ Systems such as sprinklers or humidifiers to ensure plants get enough water

Use hydrogencarbonate indicator solution to investigate the effect of gas exchange of an aquatic plant
kept in the light and in the dark

Concentration Indicator turns

Highest Yellow

Higher Orange

Atmospheric level Red

Low Magenta

Lowest Purple

● Hence the effect of light intensity on the plant’s carbon dioxide absorption, which relates to
the rate of gas exchange
● Sample experiment
○ Leaves were placed in a stoppered boiling tube containing some hydrogencarbonate
solution. Different papers were wrapped around the boiling tube to manipulate
different light intensities

Tube 1 Tube 2 Tube 3 Tube 4 (control)

Paper on tube Black paper Tissue paper None None

Leaf Living Living Living Dead (boiled)

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 Indicator colour at Yellow Magenta Purple Red
the end

Carbon dioxide Highest Low Lowest Atmospheric level

concentration

Photosynthesis ✗ ✓ ✓✓ ✗

○ Tube 4 was a control. The results in tubes 3 and 4 show that the leaf has to be alive
for the carbon dioxide concentration to change.
○ Tubes 1, 2 and 3 show the effect of increasing the light intensity. The black paper
stopped light reaching the leaf in tube 1, so only respiration could happen.
○ The tissue paper stopped some of the light reaching the leaf in tube 2, and the leaf in
tube 3 received the most light.
○ Photosynthesis happened as well as respiration in tubes 2 and 3, so there was a net
absorption of carbon dioxide.
○ The rate of photosynthesis was greatest in the leaf in tube 3, and it had the greatest net
absorption of carbon dioxide.

6.2 Leaf structure

Identify chloroplasts, cuticle, guard cells and stomata, upper and lower epidermis, palisade
mesophyll, spongy mesophyll, vascular bundles, xylem and phloem in leaves of a dicotyledonous plant

Explain how the internal structure of a leaf is adapted for photosynthesis

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 ● Cuticle
○ Waterproof and waxy layer that prevents water loss from top of the leaf
● Upper epidermis
○ No chloroplast, transparent cell that allows light goes straight through
● Palisade mesophyll
○ Contains much chloroplast, absorbs much sunlight where photosynthesis occurs
● Spongy mesophyll
○ More rounded cells with many air spaces in between
■ Allows for buoyancy and floating
○ Also diffusion of gas needed for photosynthesis
● Vascular bundle
○ Xylem vessels
■ Bring water and mineral salts to the leaf
○ Phloem tubes
■ Brings dissolves food and glucose away (from the leaves) and to the rest of
the plant
○ Also supports the leaf so it can absorb maximum sunlight
● Lower epidermis
○ No thick cuticle
○ Has stomata to allow gases to diffuse in and out of the leaf
■ Stomata are in the lower epidermis so that gases will have direct access to the
air spaces for easy diffusion in and out of the photosynthesizing cells
○ Guard cells contain chloroplast

6.3 Mineral requirements

Describe the importance of nitrate ions for making amino acids, and magnesium ions for making
chlorophyll

And explain the effects of nitrate ion and magnesium ion deficiency on plant growth
● Nitrate ions
○ Used for the production of amino acids (used in proteins, hormones etc.)
○ Will lead to poor growth if deficient in the mineral
● Magnesium ions
○ Used for the production of chlorophyll
○ Leaves will look yellow (chlorosis) if deficient in mineral

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Chapter 7: Human nutrition

7.1 Diet
State what is meant by the term balanced diet for humans
● A diet in which contains the correct amounts and portions of carbohydrates, proteins, fats,
vitamins, minerals, water and fibres.

Explain how age, gender and activity affect the dietary needs of humans including during pregnancy
and whilst breastfeeding
● Age
○ Energy demand increases until one stops growing
○ While children are growing they need more protein per kilogram of body weight than
adults do. More calcium is also needed.
○ Younger people need more energy to grow, so carbohydrates are required; teenagers
need the highest calorie intake, while adults should have balanced meal with less
calories.
● Gender
○ Generally, males use up more energy than females due to their bigger size and
needing more energy for body maintenance
● Pregnancy
○ Needs more calcium, iron and folic acid for the development of the fetus
● Activity level
○ An active person requires more energy than an inactive one for work and movement

Describe the effects of malnutrition in relation to starvation, constipation, coronary heart

● Starvation
○ Caused by too little food, such as through extreme slimming diets, which can result in
the disease anorexia nervosa
○ Results in a very low body mass with lack of fat and muscle wasting, plus a lack of
resistance to infections
○ During starvation, the body draws on its stores of carbohydrates, fat and protein for
energy
● Constipation
○ Caused by lack of roughages in food consumption

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 ○ Roughages form bulks which causes friction between the walls of intestine which
stimulate the peristalsis
○ Food moving slowly will result in constipation, making it hard to defecate
● Coronary heart disease
○ Caused by consumption of too much fats, rich in saturated fats and cholesterol, which
blocks the coronary arteries
○ May lead to heart attack

List the principal sources of, and describe the dietary importance of...
● Carbohydrates
○ Energy
● Fats
○ Source of energy, building materials, energy store, insulation, buoyancy, marking
hormones
● Proteins
○ Energy, building materials, enzymes, haemoglobin, structural material , muscle,
hormones, antibodies
● Vitamin C
○ Protect cells from ageing, production of protein ibres
● Vitamin D
○ Absorption of calcium
● Calcium
○ Development and maintenance of strong bones and teeth
● Iron
○ Making haemoglobin
● Fiber
○ Provides bulk for faeces, helps peristalsis
● Water
○ Regulates internal tempearture (to prevent overheating), chemical reaction, solvent
for transport

Explain the causes and effects of vitamin D and iron deficiencies

● Vitamin D
○ Cause rickets that will soften bones that become deformed
● Iron

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 ○ Anaemia (not enough red blood cells, not enough oxygen delivered to tissue), lead to
constant tiredness, lack of energy

Explain the causes and effects of protein-energy malnutrition, e.g. kwashiorkor and marasmus
● Wrong proportion of nutrients, like too much carbohydrates (starchy foods) and a lack of
protein can lead to Kwashiorkor in young children
● Kwashiorkor: protein-deficient malnutrition, marasmus: inadequate energy malnutrition

7.2 Alimentary canal

Define ingestion as​…
● The taking of substances, e.g. food and drink, into the body through the mouth

Define mechanical digestion as…

● The breakdown of food into smaller pieces without chemical change to the food molecules
Define chemical digestion as...
● The breakdown of large, insoluble molecules into small, soluble molecules
Define absorption as...
● The movement of small food molecules and ions through the wall of the intestine into the
blood
Define assimilation as…
● The movement of digested food molecules into the cells of the body where they are used,
becoming part of the cells
Define egestion as...
● The passing out of food that has not been digested or absorbed, as faeces, through the anus
Describe diarrhoea as
● The loss of watery faeces

Outline the treatment of diarrhoea using oral rehydration therapy

● Oral rehydration therapy is a type of fluid replacement used to prevent and treat ​dehydration​,
especially that due to diarrhea.
● It involves drinking water with modest amounts of sugar and salts, specifically ​sodium​ and
potassium​.
● Therapy should routinely include the use of zinc supplements.

Describe cholera as a disease caused by a bacterium

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 ● Cholera is an infectious disease that causes severe watery diarrhea, which can lead to
dehydration and even death if untreated. It is caused by eating food or drinking water
contaminated with a bacterium called Vibrio cholerae.

Explain that the cholera bacterium…

● Produces a toxin that causes secretion of chloride ions into the small intestine, causing
osmotic movement of water into the gut, causing diarrhoea, dehydration and loss of salts from
blood
○ When the ​Vibrio cholera ​bacteria are ingested, they multiply in the small intestine
and invade its epithelial cells. As the bacteria become embedded, they release toxins
which irritate the intestinal lining and lead to the secretion of large amounts of water
and salts, including chloride ions.
○ The salt decrease the osmotic potential of the gut contents, drawing more water from
surrounding tissues and blood by osmosis. This makes the undigested food much
more watery, leading to acute diarrhoea, and the loss of body fluids and salt leads to
dehydration and kidney failure.

Identify the main regions of the alimentary canal and associated organs, limited to mouth, salivary
glands, oesophagus, stomach, small intestine (duodenum and ileum), pancreas, liver, gallbladder and
large intestine (colon, rectum, anus). And describe the functions of the regions of the alimentary canal
listed above, in relation to ingestion, digestion, absorption, assimilation and egestion of food
● Mouth
○ Where digestion starts. The teeth cut and grind the food which is mixed with saliva.
The saliva contains amylase to break starch down into maltose.
● Oesophagus
○ Boluses of food pass through by peristalsis from mouth to stomach
● Stomach
○ Muscular walls squeeze on food to make it semi-liquid.
○ Gastric juice contains
■ Pepsin (a protease) to break big proteins down into small protein
(polypeptides)
■ Hydrochloric acid to maintain an optimum
■ pH 1.5 - 3.5, in which this acid also kills bacteria
● Gallbladder
○ Stores bile used to help in the digestion of fats

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 ● Pancreas
○ Secretes pancreatic juices into the duodenum, which has enzymes to further break
down the food. Also makes the hormones insulin and glucagon
● Liver
○ Makes bile, which is stored on the gallbladder. Bile contains salt that emulsifies fats,
forming droplets with a large surface area to make digestion by lipase more efficient.
○ Digested foods are assimilated here
■ E.g. glucose is stored as glycogen, surplus amino acids are deaminated
● Small Intestines
○ Duodenum
■ The first part of the small intestine
■ It receives pancreatic juice containing protease, lipase and amylase.
■ Proteins, fats, starches and complex sugars are broken down into small
soluble molecules
■ The juice also contains sodium hydrogen carbonate, which neutralizes acid
from the stomach, producing pH 7-8
○ Ileum
■ The second part of the small intestines
■ Enzymes in the epithelial lining break down lactose and peptides.
■ Its surface area is increase by the presence of villi which allow the efficient
absorption of fully digested food molecules into the bloodstream.
● Large Intestines
○ Colon + rectum
○ Only undigested food reaches here. Water is absorbed
● Rectum
○ This stores faeces until it is egested
● Anus
○ This has muscles to control when faeces is egested from the body

7.3 Mechanical Digestion

Identify the types of human teeth (incisors, canines, premolars and molars)
● Incisor – biting off pieces of food
● Canine – holding and cutting food
● Premolar – tearing and grinding food
● Molar – chewing and grinding food

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Describe the structure of human teeth, limited to enamel, dentin, pulp, nerves and cement, as well as
the gums
● Crown
○ The part of the tooth that is visible above the gum line.
● Gum
○ Is a tissue the overlays the jaws.
● Root
○ The rest of the teeth, embedded in the jaw bone.
● Enamel
○ Covers tooth crown. Enamel is very hard (harder than bone), and prevents the
tooth from decaying.
● Dentine
○ Located under the enamel, this looks quite similar to bone. Not as hard as enamel.
● Pulp
○ Found at center of tooth, and contains blood vessels, nerves and soft tissues which
delivers nutrients to your tooth.
● Cement
○ The layer of bone-like tissue covering the root. It is not as hard as enamel.
● Nerves
○ Each tooth and periodontal ligament has a nerve supply and the teeth are sensitive
to a wide variety of stimuli.

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Describe the functions of the types of human teeth in mechanical digestion of food
● Food is initially broken down in the mouth by the grinding action of teeth (chewing or
mastication) into smaller pieces, which increases the surface area of the food for more
efficient breaking down by the enzymes
● The tongue pushes the food towards the back of the throat, where it travels down the
esophagus as a bolus
State the causes of dental decay in terms of a coating of bacteria and food on teeth, the bacteria
respiring sugars in the food, producing acid which dissolves the enamel and dentine
● Tooth decay happens when the hard outer enamel of the tooth is damaged.
● This can happen when bacteria in the mouth convert sugars into acids that react with the
enamel.
● Bacteria can then enter the softer dentine inside.

Describe the proper care of teeth in terms of diet and regular brushing

26
 ● Avoid sugary food, especially between meals, so bacteria cannot make acid and clean teeth
regularly to remove plaque.
● Use dental floss or a toothpick to remove pieces of food and plaque trapped between them.
● Use fluoride toothpaste (or drink fluoridated water) – fluoride hardens tooth enamel

7.4 Chemical Digestion

State the significance of chemical digestion in the alimentary canal in producing small, soluble
molecules that can be absorbed
● Breaking down large molecules to small molecules.
● The large molecules are usually not soluble in water while the smaller ones are.
● The small molecules can be absorbed through the epithelium of the alimentary canal, through
the walls of the blood vessels and into the blood.

State the functions of enzymes as follows:

● Amylase breaks down starch to simpler sugars
● Protease breaks down protein to amino acids
● Lipase breaks down fats to fatty acids and glycerol

Describe the digestion of starch in the alimentary canal

● Amylase is secreted into the alimentary canal and breaks down starch to maltose
● Maltose is broken down by maltase to glucose on the membranes of the epithelium lining the
small intestine

Describe pepsin and trypsin as two protease enzymes that function in different parts of the alimentary
canal
● Pepsin in the secreted in the stomach and acts on proteins and breaks them down into soluble
compounds called peptides
● Trypsin in the small intestine (pancreas) in an inactive form, which is changed to an active
enzyme in the duodenum, which also breaks proteins to peptides

State the functions of the hydrochloric acid in gastric juice, limited to killing bacteria in food and
giving an acid pH for enzymes
● The stomach produces hydrochloric acid.
● It kills many harmful microorganisms (bacteria) that might have been swallowed along with
the food.

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 ● The enzymes in the stomach work best in acidic conditions – at a low pH.

Explain the functions of the hydrochloric acid in gastric juice, limited to the low pH:
● Denaturing enzymes in harmful microorganisms in food such as bacteria
● Providing the optimum pH for pepsin activity

Outline the role of bile in neutralising the acidic mixture of food and gastric juices entering the
duodenum from the stomach, to provide a suitable pH for enzyme action
○ Bile is slightly alkaline and has the function of neutralising the acidic mixture of food and
gastric juices as it enters the duodenum.
○ This is important because enzymes secreted into the duodenum need alkaline conditions to
work at their optimum rate.

Outline the role of bile in emulsifying fats to increase the surface area for the chemical digestion of
fat to fatty acids and glycerol by lipase
○ The bile emulsify the fat – they break them up into small droplets with a large surface area,
which are more efficiently digested by lipase.

7.5 Absorption
Identify the small intestine as the region for the absorption of digested food

Explain the significance of villi and microvilli in increasing the internal surface area of the small
intestine
● Villi are finger like projections that increase the surface area for absorption.
● Inside each villus are:
○ Blood capillaries: absorb amino acids and glucose.
○ Lacteals: absorb fatty acids and glycerol.
Describe the structure of a villus and describe the roles of capillaries and lacteals in villi

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 ● Food molecules are absorbed mainly by diffusion, or by active transport

Features (adaptations) How this help absorption take place

Villi are covered with cells which have even This gives the inner surface of the small
smaller projections on them, called microvilli intestine a very large surface area, The larger
the surface area, the faster nutrients can be
absorbed

Villi contain blood capillaries Monosaccharides, amino acids, water, minerals,

vitamins and some fats, pass into the blood, to
be taken to the liver and then round the body

Villi contain lacteals, which are part of the Fats are absorbed into lacteals
lymphatic system

Villi have walls only one cell thick The digested nutrients can easily cross the wall
to reach the blood capillaries and lacteals

State that water is absorbed in both the small intestine and the colon, but that most absorption of water
happens in the small intestine
● Colon (large intestine) only absorbs the remaining water

Chapter 8: Transport in plants

8.1 Transport in plants

State the functions of xylem and phloem
● Xylem vessels
○ Transport water and dissolved minerals from the root up to all the other parts of the
plant

29
 ● Phloem vessels
○ Transport food nutrients such as glucose from the leaves to other parts of the plant

Identify the position of xylem and phloem as seen in sections of roots, stems and leaves, limited to
non-woody dicotyledonous plants

8.2 Water Uptake

Identify root hair cells, as seen under the light microscope, and state their functions, and explain that
the large surface area of root hairs increases the rate of the absorption of water by osmosis and ions
by active transport
● The root hairs are where most water absorption happens. They are long and thin so they can
penetrate between soil particles, and they have a large surface area for absorption of water.
● Water passes from the soil water to the root hair cell’s cytoplasm by osmosis. This happens
because the soil water has a higher water potential than the root hair cell cytoplasm.
○ Osmosis causes water to pass into the root hair cells, through the root cortex and into
the xylem vessels

State the pathway taken by water through root, stem and leaf as root hair cell, root cortex cells, xylem
and mesophyll cells
● Water enters root hair cells by osmosis. This happens when the water potential in the soil
surrounding the root is higher than in the cell, water diffuses from the soil into the root hair,
down its concentration gradient

30
 ● As the water enters the cell, its water potential becomes higher than in the cell next to it, e.g.
in the cortex. So water moves, by osmosis, into the next cell. Some of water may also just
seep through the spaces between the cells, or through the cell walls, never actually entering a
cell.

● Water vapour evaporating from a leaf crates a kind of suction, its pressure at the top of the
vessels is lower than that at the bottom water move up the stem in the xylem, more water is
drawn into the leaf from the xylem.
● This creates a transpiration stream, pulling water up from the root. Mature xylems cells have
no cell contents, so they act like open-ended tubes allowing free movement of water through
them. Roots also produce a root pressure, forcing water up xylem vessels.
● Water moves from xylem to enter leaf tissues down water potential gradient. In the leaves,
water passes out of the xylem vessels into the surrounding cells.

Investigate, using a suitable stain, the pathway of water through the above-ground parts of a plant
● Cut the base, non-leafy end, of a fresh stalk of celery underwater.
● Place the cut end into a beaker of water stained with red food dye.
● Leave the celery stalk in bright light at room temperature in a breeze.
● Note the red lines moving up the stalk and then along the veins of the leafy parts.
● Cut across the stalk and note the curve of red dots close to the outer edge.
● If a thin section is examined under the microscope it is the xylem which has been stained red
in colour.

8.3 Transpiration
State that water is transported from the roots to leaves through the xylem vessels

Define transpiration as...

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 ● The loss of water vapour from plant leaves by evaporation of water at the surfaces of the
mesophyll cells followed by diffusion of water vapour through the stomata

Explain how water vapour loss is related to the large surface area of cell surfaces, interconnecting
air spaces and stomata
● Transpiration is the loss of water vapour from the leaf;
● Water in the mesophyll cells form a thin layer on their surfaces;
● The water evaporates into the air spaces in the spongy mesophyll;
● This creates a high concentration of water molecules in the air spaces.
● Water vapour diffuses out of the leaf into the surrounding air, through the stomata, by
diffusion.

Explain the mechanism by which water moves upwards in the xylem in terms of a transpiration pull
that draws up a column of water molecules, held together by cohesion
● Mechanism of water uptake:
○ Water enters root hair cells by osmosis (as the water potential in the soil surrounding
the root is higher than in the cell);
○ As the water enters the cell, its water potential becomes higher than in the cell next to
it, e.g. in the cortex;
○ So the water moves by osmosis, into the next cell;
○ This process is repeated until water reaches the xylem.
● Mechanism of water movement through a plant:
○ Transpiration continuously removes water from the leaf;
○ Thus water is constantly being taken from the top of the xylem vessels, to supply the
cells in the leaves;
○ This reduces the effective pressure at the top of the xylem vessels;
○ This creates a transpiration stream or ‘pull’, pulling water up;
○ Water molecules have a strong tendency to stick together. This is called cohesion;
○ When the water is ‘pulled’ up the xylem vessels, the whole column of water stays
together;
○ Roots also produce a root pressure, forcing water up the xylem vessels.
Explain how and why wilting occurs
● Occurs when the transpiration rate is faster than the rate of water absorption. The amount of
water in the plant keeps on decreasing.
● The water content of cells decreases and cells turn from turgid to flaccid.

32
 ● The leaves shrink and the plant will eventually die.

Investigate and describe the effects of variation of temperature and humidity on transpiration rate
● Temperature
○ Higher temperature results in higher kinetic energy of water molecules, causing
higher diffusion and evaporation rate
● Air movement (wind)
○ Higher air movement removes water molecules as they pass out the leaf, maintaining
a steep concentration gradient for diffusion and increasing the transpiration rate
● Humidity
○ Higher humidity will slow down rate of diffusion of the leaf as surrounding
concentration of water vapour in air is already high
● Light intensity
○ The higher the light intensity, the wider the stomata will open, allowing more carbon
dioxide into the leaf for photosynthesis, causing faster diffusion of water vapour out
of the leaf

8.4 Translocation
Define translocation as…
● the movement of sucrose and amino acids in the phloem, from regions of production (the
‘source’) to regions of storage or to regions where they are used in respiration or growth (the
‘sink’).
○ Glucose is very important as it makes many other important nutrients.
○ For Example, Glucose is used to make sucrose.
○ Sucrose then enters the phloem
○ The phloem then transports the sucrose all across the leaf where it can be made used
of.
Explain that some parts of a plant may act as a source and a sink at different times during the life of a
plant
● While a bud containing new leaves is forming it would require nutrients and therefore act as a
sink.
● However, once the bud has burst and the leaves are photosynthesising, the region would act as
a source, sending newly synthesised sugars and amino acids to other parts of the plant.

33
 ● Some plants have a time of year when they became dormant. During this stage they wait out
harsh conditions in reduced activity. During this stage they live off stored starch and do not
photosynthesizes, and begin to grow again during the new seasons.
● An example of this is the potato plant
○ During the summer, the leaves photosynthesise and send sucrose down into
underground stems. Here, swellings called tubers develop. The cells in the root tubers
change the sucrose to starch and store it.
○ In winter, the leaves die. Nothing is left of the potato plant above ground - just the
stem tubers beneath the soil.
○ In spring, they begin to grow new shoots and leaves. The starch in the tubers is
changed back to the sucrose, and transported in the phloem to the growing stems and
leaves. This will continue until the leaves are above ground and photosynthesise.
○ So in summer, the leaves are sources and the growing stem tubers are sinks. In spring,
the stem tubers are sources and the growing leaves are sinks.
● Phloem can transfer sucrose in either direction - up or down the plant. This isn't true for the
transport of water in the xylem vessels. That can only go upwards, because transpiration
always happens at the leaf surface, and it is this that provides the 'pull' to draw water up the
plant.

Process Transport From To Mechanism High rate

Transpiration H2O, mineral Soil Leaves, Passive processes On hot, sunny,

ions flowers, using a tension in windy and dry
fruits the xylem days
produced by
evaporation of
water

Translocation Sucrose, Leaves Shoot, root Active process, the On warm,

amino acids tips, root water enters the sunny days
cortex, tubes to build up a when plants
seeds, head of pressure are producing
flowers, that forces the more sugar
fruits phloem sap to the
sinks

Chapter 9: Transport in Animals

Describe the circulatory system as a system of blood vessels with a pump and valves to ensure
one-way flow of blood

34
 ● The main transport system of human is the circulatory system, a system of tubes (blood
vessels) with a pump (the heart) and valves to ensure one-way flow of blood.
● Its functions:
○ To transport nutrients and oxygen to the cells.
○ To remove waste and carbon dioxide from the cells.
○ To provide for efficient gas exchange.
Describe the single circulation of a fish
● Simplest circulatory systems of all vertebrates.
● A heart, consisting of one atrium (collecting chamber) and one ventricle (ejection chamber),
sends blood to the gills where it is oxygenated. The blood then flows to all the parts of the
body before returning to the heart.
● Known as a ​single circulation​ because the blood goes through the heart once for each
complete circulation of the body.
● This system is inefficient because blood pressure is lost when the blood passes through
capillaries in the gills
​Describe the double circulation of a mamma​l
● Beginning at the lungs, blood flows into the left-hand side of the heart, and then out to the rest
of the body.
● It is brought back to the right-side of the heart, before going back to the lungs again.

Explain the advantages of a double circulation

35
 ● Oxygenated blood is kept separate from deoxygenated blood. The septum in the heart ensures
this complete separation. Oxygenated blood flows through the left side of the heart while
deoxygenated blood flows through the right.
● The blood pressure in the systemic circulation is kept higher than that in the pulmonary
circulation. The left ventricle, with a thicker wall, pumps blood under higher pressure to the
body and delivers oxygenated blood effectively to all parts of the body. The right ventricle
has a thinner wall and pumps blood to the lungs under lower pressure, thereby avoiding any
lung damage.

9.2 Heart
Name and identify the structures of the mammalian heart, limited to the muscular wall, the septum,
the left and right ventricles and atria, one-way valves, semilunar valves and coronary arteries
(only need to remember those mentioned above)

36
Explain the relative thickness of the muscle wall of the left and right ventricles, and the muscle wall of
the atria compared to that of the ventricles
● The wall of the left ventricle is much thicker than the right ventricle because it needs to build
up enough pressure to move the blood to all the main organs
● The ventricles of the heart have thicker muscular walls than the atria, because blood is
pumped out the heart at greater pressure from these chambers to the atria.

State that blood is pumped away from the heart into arteries and returns to the heart in veins

Explain the importance of the septum in separating oxygenated and deoxygenated blood
● It is necessary in mammals and birds to separate oxygenated and deoxygenated blood because
this makes their circulatory system is more efficient and helps in maintaining constant body
temperature.

Describe the functioning of the heart in terms of the contraction of muscles of the atria and ventricles
and the action of the valves
● The heart is made of a special type of muscle called cardiac muscle which contracts and
relaxes regularly, throughout life. The heart’s muscle is constantly active, so it needs its own
blood supply, through the coronary artery, to provide it with oxygen and glucose.
● Valves in the heart prevent blood from being pushed backwards up into the atria when the
heart ‘beats’.

State that the activity of the heart may be monitored by ECG, pulse rate and listening to sounds of
valves closing

Explain the effect of physical activity on the heart rate

● During exercise the heart rate increases to supply the muscles with more oxygen and glucose
allow the muscles to respire aerobically à they have sufficient energy to contract.
● Regular exercise is important to keep the heart muscle in good tone; heart is more efficient in
maintaining blood pressure and decreased risk of coronary heart disease and stroke.

Describe coronary heart disease in terms of the blockage of coronary arteries and state the possible
risk factors as diet, stress, smoking, genetic predisposition, age and gender and how diet and exercise
in the prevention of coronary heart disease

37
 ● The coronary arteries supply blood to the heart muscle. These may become blocked by a
buildup of fatty plaques containing cholesterol, resulting in coronary heart disease.
● If a coronary artery is blocked, the blood supply to part of the heart muscle is cut off. That
part of the heart cannot continue to contract, causing a heart attack.
○ Poor diet with too much cholesterol will build up in the coronary arteries and block
the blood vessel
○ Nicotine from smoking damages the heart and blood vessels
○ Stress tends to increase blood pressure in which fatty materials will be collected in the
arteries
○ Heart diseases can be passed on to generations
○ An older age may result in higher probability in collection of fatty arteries in the
artery
○ Men have a higher incidence of coronary heart disease at a younger age (estrogen, a
female hormone seems to have a protective effect against heart disease). At around
age 65, both sexes have have a similar risk.

○ Regular exercise is important to keep the heart muscle in good tone; heart is more
efficient in maintaining blood pressure and decreased risk of coronary heart disease
and stroke.
○ A healthy balanced diet reduced in saturated animal fat (cholesterol free diet) will
preventing cholesterol can reduce risk coronary heart diseases.
Describe ways in which coronary heart disease may be treated, limited to drug treatment with aspirin
and surgery (stents, angioplasty and bypass)
● Regular dose of aspirin (salicylic acid). Aspirin prevents the formation of blood clots in the
arteries, which can lead to a heart attack.
● Angioplasty and stent. Angioplasty involves the insertion of a long, thin tube called a catheter
into the blocked blood vessel. A wire attached to a deflated balloon is then fed through the
catheter to the damaged artery. The balloon is then inflated to widen the artery wall, freeing
the blockage. Stent can be used. This is a wire-mesh tube that can be expanded and left in
place.
● Bypass surgery. The surgeon removes a section of blood vessel from a different part of the
body, such as the leg. The blood vessel is then attached around the blocked region of artery to
bypass it, allowing blood to pass freely.

9.3 Blood and lymphatic vessels

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Describe the structure and functions of arteries, veins and capillaries and explain how the structures
are adapted for their function

Arteries Capillaries Veins

Function Carries blood away Supply all cells with Returns blood to the
from the heart at high their requirements heart at low pressure
pressure Take away waste
products

Structure of wall Thick and strong, Very thin, only one Thin, mainly fibrous
contains muscles, cell thick tissue, contains much
elastic fibres and less muscle and elastic
fibrous tissue tissue than arteries

Lumen Narrow Very narrow Wide

Varies with heartbeat Just wide enough for a
(increases as a pulse of red blood cell to pass
blood passes through through

Valves No valves No valves Has valves to prevent

backflow

How structure fits its Strength and elasticity No need for strong No need for strong
function needed to withstand walls, as most of the walls, as most of the
the pulsing of the blood pressure has blood pressure has been
blood been lost lost

Prevent bursting and Thin walls and narrow Wide lumen offers less
maintain pressure lumen bring blood into resistance to blood flow
wave close contact with
body tissue, allowing
Helps to maintain high diffusion of materials
blood pressure, between capillaries and
preventing blood surrounding tissue
flowing backwards
White blood cells can
squeeze between cells
of the wall

Name the main blood vessels to and from the heart, lungs and kidney
● Pulmonary Veins
○ Transports oxygenated blood from the lungs to the left atrium
● Aorta
○ Transports oxygenated blood from the heart to the rest of the body and the brain.
● Vena Cava
○ Transports deoxygenated blood from the rest of the body to the heart.

39
 ● Pulmonary Artery
○ Transports deoxygenated blood from body to the heart to the lungs.
● Hepatic Artery
○ Supplies oxygenated blood to the liver (also pylorus (part of stomach), duodenum and
pancreas).
● Hepatic Portal Vein
○ Transports blood from the gastrointestinal tract and spleen to the liver, rich in
nutrients to be processed by the liver.
● Renal Artery
○ Supplies kidney with oxygenated blood.
● Renal Vein
○ Transports blood away from the kidney, into the inferior Vena Cava.

State the function of arterioles, venules and shunt vessels

● Arterioles
○ Vessels that small arteries branch out into
○ They regulate the blood of flow into different tissues
● Venules
○ Small vessels that are formed when capillaries come together
○ Allow deoxygenated blood to return from the the capillary beds to the veins
● Shunt vessels
○ They link an artery to a vein
○ This provides channels that bypass capillary beds

Outline the lymphatic system in terms of lymphatic vessels and lymph nodes
● Not all the tissue fluid returns to the capillaries. Some of it enters blind-ended, thin-walled
vessels called lymphatics.The lymphatics from all parts of the body join up to make two large
vessels, which empty their contents into the blood system.The fluid in the lymphatic vessels is
called lymph.
● Some of the larger lymphatics can contract, but most of the lymph flow results from the
vessels being compressed from time to time when the body muscles contract in movements
such as walking or breathing.
● There are valves in the lymphatics, so that when the lymphatics are squashed, the fluid in
them are forced in one direction only: towards the heart.

40
 ● At certain points in the lymphatic vessels there are swellings called lymph nodes.
● Lymphocytes are stored in the lymph nodes and released into the lymph to eventually reach
the blood system.

Describe the function of the lymphatic system in the circulation of body fluids and the protection of
the body from infection
● There are also phagocytes in the lymph nodes. If bacteria enter a wound and are not ingested
by the white cells of the blood or lymph, they will be carried in the lymph to a lymph node
and white cells there will ingest them. The lymph nodes thus form part of the body’s defence
system against infection.

9.4 Blood
List the components of blood as...
● Red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma
Identify red and white blood cells, as seen under the light microscope, on prepared slides and in
diagrams and photomicrographs

Identify lymphocyte and phagocyte white blood cells, as seen under the light microscope, on prepared
slides and in diagrams and photomicrographs

41
State the functions of the following components of blood:
● Red blood cells
○ Made in the bone marrow of certain bones such as ribs, vertebrae and some limb
bones at a very fast rate (around 9000 million per hours)
○ Transports oxygen from lungs to all respiring tissues, prepares carbon dioxide
transport from all respiring tissues to lungs
○ Contains haemoglobin, a red iron containing pigment, which can carry oxygen
■ In the lungs, haemoglobin combines with oxygen to form oxyhaemoglobin
○ Has no nucleus so more hemoglobin can fit inside the cytoplasm, has special
biconcave disc shape to increase surface area and make diffusion of oxygen in and
out of the cell easier
○ Lives for about 4 months
● White blood cells
○ Phagocyte
■ Made in the barrow marrow and in the lymph nodes
■ Has a lobed nuclei and granular cytoplasm
■ Remove any microorganisms that invade the body and might cause infection,
engulf (ingest) and kill them by digesting them
○ Lymphocytes
■ To produce antibodies to fight bacteria and foreign materials
■ Has a large nuclei
■ Responsible for immunity
● Platelets
○ Small fragments of cells with no nucleus
○ Involved in blood clotting
■ Forms blood clots, which stop blood loss at a wound and prevents the entry of
germs into the body

Describe the process of clotting as the conversion of fibrinogen to fibrin to form a mesh
● When an injury causes a blood vessel wall to break, platelets are activated. They change shape
from round to spiny, stick to the broken vessel wall and each other to begin to plug the break
● The platelets interact with fibrinogen, a soluble plasma protein, to form insoluble fibrin
(Calcium is required for that)
● Fibrin strands form a net that entraps more platelets and other blood cells, producing a clot
that plugs he break

42
State the roles of blood clotting as
● Preventing blood loss and preventing the entry of pathogens

Describe the transfer of materials between capillaries and tissue fluid (details of the roles of water
potential and hydrostatic pressure are not required
● As blood enters capillaries from arterioles, it slows down. This allows substances in the
plasma, as well as O2 from red blood cells, to diffuse through the capillary wall into the
surrounding tissues (the capillary wall is thin and permeable).
● Liquid in the plasma also passes out. This forms tissue fluid, bathing the cells. Waste products
from the cells, e.g. CO2, diffuse back through the capillary walls into the plasma. Some of the
tissue fluid also passes back. Diffusion is responsible for the transfer of materials between
capillaries and tissue fluid.
Chapter 10: Diseases and immunity

Define pathogen as...

● A disease-causing organism
Define transmissible disease as…
● A disease in which the pathogen can be passed from one host to another

State that the pathogen for a transmissible disease may be transmitted either through direct contact,
e.g. through blood or other body fluids, or indirectly, e.g. from contaminated surfaces or food, from
animals, or from the air

State that antibodies lock on to antigens leading to direct destruction of pathogens, or marking of
pathogens for destruction by phagocytes

State that the body has defences:

● Mechanical barriers
○ Skin and hair in the nose.
● Chemical barriers
○ Stomach acid, mucus produced by the lining of the trachea and bronchi, and tears
which contain an enzyme called lysozyme.
● Cells
○ Phagocytosis and antibody production by white blood cells.
● Body’s defence can also be enhanced through vaccination

43
Explain how each pathogen has its own antigens, which have specific shapes, so specific antibodies
which fit the specific shapes of the antigens are needed

Define active immunity as...

● Defence against a pathogen by antibody production in the body
Explain that active immunity is…
● The defence against a pathogen by antibody production in the body.
● This is gained after an infection by a pathogen, or by vaccination.

Explain the process of vaccination

1. Inoculated (vaccinated) by harmless pathogen which has antigens.
2. The antigens trigger an immune response by lymphocytes which produces antibodies.
3. Memory cells are produced that give long-term immunity.

Explain the importance of hygienic food preparation, good personal hygiene, waste disposal and
sewage treatment in controlling the spread of disease
● Hygienic food preparation: all milk should be pasteurised, meat thoroughly cooked and at
bottom of fridge.
● Should not handle cooked food at same time as raw meat otherwise risk of salmonella; raw
meat contains bacteria.
● Waste disposal: should be stored in dustbins or garbage cans made out of galvanised steel or
strong plastic, with a closely fitted lid to exclude files and keep out scavenging animals.
Otherwise, pathogens breed in waste and become source of disease organisms. The waste is
taken away and disposed of by burning, or burying deep enough to prevent rats using it as
food.
● Sewage treatment: If disease bacteria get into water supplies used for drinking, hundreds of
people can become infected.
○ Diseases of alimentary canal, like in cholera and typhoid, are especially dangerous.
○ Millions of bacteria infect the intestinal lining of a sick person.
○ Some of these bacteria will pass out with the faeces -if gets into streams of rivers,
bacteria may be carried into reservoirs of water used for drinking, rainwater may
wash bacteria into nearby stream. -need sewage treatment

Explain the role of vaccination in controlling the spread of diseases.

44
 ● White blood cells make correct antibodies, so that if in future the real microorganisms get into
the blood, the antibody is already or very quickly made by the body.

Explain that passive immunity is…

● Is a short-term defence against a pathogen by antibodies acquired from another individual.
● This is temporary as no memory cells are formed. ​(State that memory cells are not produced
in passive immunity)

Explain the importance of passive immunity for breast-fed infants

● A baby’s immune responses are not yet fully developed, so when a mother breastfeeds her
baby, the milk which contains the mother’s white blood cells produces antibodies and provide
the baby with protection against infection.
State that some diseases are caused by the immune system targeting and destroying body cells, limited
to Type 1 diabetes
● Also known as juvenile-onset diabetes.
● Due to the inability of islet cells in the pancreas to produce sufficient insulin.
● A virus infection can cause the body’s immune system to attack the islet cells that produce
insulin. This is classed as an autoimmune
● The outcome is that the patient’s blood is deficient in insulin and he/she needs regular
injections of the hormone in order to control blood sugar levels and live a normal life.

Chapter 11: Gas exchange in humans

List the features of gas exchange surfaces in humans, limited to large surface area, thin surface, good
blood supply and good ventilation with air
● The exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide across a respiratory surface, as in the lungs,
depends on the diffusion of these two gases. Diffusion occurs more rapidly if:
○ There is a large surface area exposed to the gas.
○ The distance across which diffusion has to take place is small.
○ There is a good blood supply.
○ There is a big difference in the concentrations of the gas at two points brought about
by ventilation
Name and identify the lungs, diaphragm, ribs, intercostal muscles, larynx, trachea, bronchi,
bronchioles, alveoli and associated capillaries

45
Name and identify the internal and external intercostal muscles

State the functions of the cartilage in the trachea

● The cartilaginous rings are incomplete to allow the trachea to collapse slightly so that food
can pass down the esophagus. A flap-like epiglottis closes the opening to the larynx during
swallowing to prevent swallowed matter from entering the trachea.

Explain the role of the ribs, the internal and external intercostal muscles and the diaphragm in
producing volume and pressure changes in the thorax leading to the ventilation of the lungs
● The lungs are enclosed in the thorax. They have a spongy texture and can be expanded and
compressed by movements of the thorax in such a way that air is sucked in and blown out.
● The lungs are joined to the back of the mouth by the windpipe or trachea.The trachea divides
into two smaller tubes, called bronchi, which enters the lungs and divide into
bronchioles.These small branches end in microscopic air sacs called alveoli.
● The larynx manipulates pitch and volume.
● The diaphragm is a sheet of tissue that separates the thorax from the abdomen.
● Ribs form a cage to protect the lungs and heart, and to move to ventilate the lungs.
● Intercostal muscles are muscles between the ribs which raise the ribcage by contracting and
lower it by relaxing.

46
State the differences in composition between inspired and expired air, limited to oxygen, carbon
dioxide and water vapour, and explain the differences in composition

Oxygen Carbon dioxide Water Vapour

Inhaled (inspired)/% 21 0.04 Variable

Exhaled (expired)/% 16 4 Saturated

● Some of the oxygen is absorbed into the bloodstream when it enters the alveoli, resulting in a
reduction of oxygen.
● Cells of the body produce CO2 as a waste product during aerobic respiration. The
bloodstream carries CO2 to the lungs for excretion and diffuses across the walls of the alveoli
to be expired, resulting in a 100% increase of carbon dioxide breathed out.
● The lining of the alveoli is coated with a firm of moisture in which oxygen dissolves. Some of
this moisture evaporates into the alveoli and saturates the air with water vapour. The air you
breathe out, therefore, always contains a great deal more water vapour than the air you breathe
in.

Use lime water as a test for carbon dioxide to investigate the differences in composition between
inspired and expired air
● Limewater turns milky in the presence of carbon dioxide, so it can be used to show the
differences between inhaled (inspired) air and exhaled (expired) air. The lime water
immediately turns milky on contact with exhaled air.

Investigate and describe the effects of physical activity on rate and depth of breathing and explain the
link between physical activity and rate and depth of breathing in terms of the increased carbon
dioxide concentration in the blood, detected by the brain, causing an increased rate of breathing
● The increased rate and depth of breathing during exercise allows more oxygen to dissolve in
the blood and supply the active muscles.
● The extra carbon dioxide that the muscles put into the blood is detected by the brain, which
instructs the intercostal muscles and diaphragm muscles to contract and relax more rapidly,
increasing the breathing rate.
● Carbon dioxide will be removed by the faster, deeper breathing.

47
 ● The rate of breathing can be measured by counting the number of breaths in one minute. The
depth of breathing can be measured using a spirometer (a device that measures the volume of
air inhaled and exhaled).
● To investigate the effects of exercise on breathing, record the rate of breathing for a few
minutes when the person is at rest. After they do some exercise, record their rate of breathing
every minute until it returns to the normal resting value.

Explain the role of goblet cells, mucus and ciliated cells in protecting the gas exchange system from
pathogens and particles
● Goblet cells are found in the epithelial lining of the trachea, bronchi and some bronchioles of
the respiratory tract. Their role is to secrete mucus. The mucus forms a thin film over the
internal lining. This sticky liquid traps pathogens and small particles, preventing them from
entering the alveoli where they could cause infection or physical damage.
● Ciliated cells are also present in the epithelial lining of the respiratory tract. They are in a
continually flicking motion to move the mucus, secreted by the goblet cells, upwards and
away from the lungs. When the mucus reaches the top of the trachea, it passes down the gullet
during normal swallowing.
Chapter 12: Respiration

12.1 Respiration
State the uses of energy in the body of humans:
● Muscle contraction, protein synthesis, cell division, active transport, growth, the passage of
nerve impulses and the maintenance of a constant body temperature
State that respiration involves the action of enzymes in cells

12.2 Aerobic respiration

Define aerobic respiration as...
● The chemical reactions in cells that use oxygen to break down nutrient molecules to release
energy
State the word equation for aerobic respiration as…
● Glucose + oxygen → carbon dioxide + water
State the balanced chemical equation for aerobic respiration as
● C6H12O6 + 6O2 → 6CO2 + 6H2O
Investigate the effect of temperature on the rate of respiration of germinating seeds

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 ● When temperature increases, rate of respiration increases as well because the heat speeds up
the reactions which means kinetic energy is higher. This means reactions speed up and rate of
cellular respiration increases.

12.3 Anaerobic respiration

Define anaerobic respiration as...
● The chemical reactions in cells that break down nutrient molecules to release energy without
using oxygen
State the word equations for anaerobic respiration in muscles during vigorous exercise (glucose →
lactic acid) and the microorganism yeast (glucose → alcohol + carbon dioxide)

State the balanced chemical equation for anaerobic respiration in the microorganism yeast as...
● C6H12O6 → 2C2 H5 OH + 2CO2

State that anaerobic respiration releases much less energy per glucose molecule than aerobic
respiration

State that lactic acid builds up in muscles and blood during vigorous exercise causing an oxygen debt

Outline how the oxygen debt is removed during recovery

● There is a buildup of lactic acid in the muscles during vigorous exercise. The lactic acid needs
to be oxidised to carbon dioxide and water later.
● This causes an oxygen debt, that needs to be ‘repaid’ after the exercise stops. Lactic acid is
removed in the bloodstream.
● The blood needs to move more quickly during and after exercise to maintain this lactic acid
removal process, so the heart rate is rapid.
● On reaching the liver, some of the lactic acid is oxidised to CO2 and H2O, using up oxygen in
the process.
● After exercise has stopped, a high level of oxygen consumption may persist until the excess of
lactic acid has been oxidised. This is characterised by deeper breathing.

Aerobic Anaerobic

Oxygen Needed Not needed

Glucose breakdown Complete Incomplete

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 End product(s) Carbon dioxide and water Animal cells: lactic acid
Plant cells and yeast: carbon
dioxide and ethanol

Energy released Relatively large amount Relatively small amount

Chapter 13: Excretion

State that…
● urea is formed in the liver from excess amino acids
● carbon dioxide is excreted through the lungs
● the kidneys excrete urea and excess water and salts
Explain that the volume and concentration of urine produced is affected by water intake, temperature
and exercise
● Volume of urine is increased, and concentration is decreased in high water intake, low
surrounding temperature and not during exercise
● Volume of urine is decreased, and concentration is increased in low water intake, high
surrounding temperature, and during exercise

Identify on drawings, diagrams and images, the ureters, bladder and urethra

Describe the role of the liver in the assimilation of amino acids by converting them to proteins,
including plasma proteins, e.g. fibrinogen
● Liver plays an important role in assimilation (absorbing) amino acids.
● Removes amino acids from the plasma of the bloodstream and builds them up into proteins.
○ Proteins are long chains of amino acids, joined together by peptide bonds.
○ Proteins include fibrinogen, used for blood clotting

Define deamination as...

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 ● The removal of the nitrogen-containing part of amino acids to form urea
Explain the need for excretion, limited to toxicity of urea and carbon dioxide
● Some of the compounds made in reactions in the body are potentially toxic if their
concentrations build up.
● CO2 dissolves in fluids such as tissue fluid and blood plasma to form carbonic acid. This
increase in acidity can affect the actions of enzymes and can be fatal.
● Ammonia is made in the liver when excess amino acid are broken down. However, ammonia
is very alkaline and toxic. It is converted to urea which is much less poisonous, making it a
safe way of excreting excess nitrogen.
Outline the structure of the kidney, limited to the cortex, medulla and ureter

● The kidney tissue consists of many capillaries and tiny tubes, called renal tubules, held
together with connective tissue.
● The cortex is outer region, while the medulla is the inner zone.
● A renal artery carries blood to the kidney and a renal vein carries it away.
● The ureter carries urine from the kidney to the bladder.
● Where the ureter joins the kidney there is a space called the pelvis.
Outline the structure and functioning of a kidney tubule, including: the role of the glomerulus in the
filtration from the blood of water, glucose, urea and salts, the role of the tubule in the reabsorption of
all of the glucose, most of the water and some salts back into the blood, leading to the concentration
of urea in the urine as well as loss of excess water and salts (details of these processes are not
required)
● The renal artery divides up into a great many arterioles and capillaries, mostly in the cortex.
● Each arteriole leads to a glomerulus. This is a capillary repeatedly divided and coiled, making
a knot of vessels.
● Each glomerulus is almost entirely surrounded by a cup-shaped organ called a renal capsule,
which leads to a coiled renal tubule.

51
 ● This tubule, after a series of coils and loops, joins a collecting duct, which passes through the
medulla to open into the pelvis.
● A nephron is a single glomerulus with its renal capsule, renal tubule and blood capillaries.

Explain dialysis in terms of salt balance, the maintenance of glucose concentration and the removal of
urea
● Dialysis is a treatment that filters and purifies the blood using a machine
● Dialysis fluid contains:
○ a glucose concentration similar to a normal level in the blood
○ a concentration of ions similar to that found in normal blood plasma
○ no urea
● As the dialysis fluid has no urea in it, there is a large concentration gradient – meaning that
urea moves across the partially permeable membrane, from the blood to the dialysis fluid, by
diffusion.
Describe the use of dialysis in kidney machines
● The person’s blood flows through the machine and back into his/her body.
● Inside the machine, the person’s blood is separated with a partially permeable membrane (like
visking tubing) containing dialysis fluid.
● The fluid contains all the necessary components of blood and no urea in it
● This causes the urea in the person’s blood to diffuse into the partially permeable cell
membrane, down their concentration gradients.
● This process usually continues till several hours.
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of kidney transplants, compared with dialysis

Advantages Disadvantages

Kidney ● Patients can lead a more normal ● Must take immunosuppressive

transplants life without having to closely
watch their own eating and
drinking
● Cheaper for the National
Healthcare Service
drug which increases the risk of
infection
● Requires a suitable donor with
good tissue match
● Shortage of organ donors

52
 ● Kidneys only last for 8-9 years
on average
● Operations carries risks and is
expensive

Kidney ● Available to all kidney patients ● Patients must limit their salt
dialysis (no shortage) and protein intake between
● No need for immune-suppressant dialysis sessions
drugs ● Expensive for the National
Health Service
● Regular dialysis sessions last
for a long time: impact the
patient’s life

Chapter 14: Coordination and Response

14.1 Nervous control in humans

Describe a nerve impulse as…
● An electrical signal that passes along nerve cells called neurones
Describe the human nervous system in terms of:
● The central nervous system
○ Consisting of brain and spinal cord
● The peripheral nervous system,
○ Made up of nerves and receptors, coordinates and regulation of body functions
Identify motor (effector), relay (connector) and sensory neurones from diagrams

53
Describe a simple reflex arc in terms of receptor, sensory neuron, relay neurone, motor neurones and
effector
● A stimulus affects a receptor (cell or organ that converts a stimulus into an electrical impulse)  
● A sensory neuron carries impulse from the receptor to the CNS 
● Relay neuron carries impulse slower (because it has no myelin sheath) across the spinal cord  
● Motor neuron carries impulse from the CNS to the effector  
○ Effector (either a muscle or a gland) carries out the response 
 
Describe a reflex action as a means of automatically and rapidly integrating and coordinating stimuli
with the responses of effectors (muscles and glands)
● For example, upon the hand touching a hot object
○ Receptor in the skin detects a stimulus (the change in temperature).
○ Sensory neuron sends impulses to relay neurone.
○ Motor neuron sends impulses to effector.
○ Effector produces a response (muscle contracts to move hand away).
Define a synapse as...
● A junction between two neurones
Distinguish between voluntary and involuntary actions
● The reflex arc is an involuntary action. (Reflex means it is automatically done without your
choice.)
○ This is because when the electrical impulses reach the relay neurone in the CNS from
the receptors, some impulses are carried by other neurons to the brain, and some
impulses are passed onto the motor neuron to the effector muscle and the response
takes place.
○ The electrical impulses going to your brain are much slower that the ones going to the
effector muscle directly. This is why the reflex action takes place before you realise
it, it is uncontrollable.
● Voluntary actions are the ones that one makes the choice to do.
○ Like picking up a bag from the floor for example. The brain sends electrical impulses
to the effector muscles ordering them to contract so you could pick the bag up.
Voluntary actions are slower than involuntary actions and they start at the brain.
Describe the structure of a synapse, including the presence of neurotransmitter containing vesicles,
the synaptic cleft and neurotransmitter receptor molecules

54
Describe how an impulse triggers the release of a neurotransmitter from vesicles into the synaptic
gap and how the neurotransmitter diffuses across to bind with receptor molecules, in the membrane of
the neuron after the synaptic gap, causing the impulse to continue
● When an impulse arrives at the synapse, vesicles in the cytoplasm release a tiny amount of the
neurotransmitter
● It rapidly diffuses across the synaptic cleft (the gap) and binds with neurotransmitter receptor
molecules in the membrane of the neuron on the other side of the synapse.
● This then sets off an impulse in the neuron.
● Sometimes several impulses have to arrive at the synapse before enough transmitter substance
is released to cause an impulse to be fired off in the next eurone.
● Synapses control the direction of impulses because neurotransmitter substances are only
synthesised on one side of the synapse, while receptor molecules are only present on the other
side.
● They slow down the speed of nerve impulses slightly because of the time taken for the
chemical to diffuse across the synaptic gap.
● Many drugs produce their effects by interacting with receptor molecules at synapses

State that in a reflex arc the synapses ensure that impulses travel in one direction only

State that many drugs, e.g. heroin, act upon synapses

55
 ● Heroin​, stimulates receptor molecules in synapses in the brain, triggering the release of
dopamine (a neurotransmitter), which gives a short-lived ‘high’.

14.2 Sense organs

Define sense organs as
● Groups of receptor cells responding to specific stimuli: light, sound, touch, temperature and
chemicals

Identify the structures of the eye, limited to cornea, iris, pupil, lens, retina, optic nerve and blind spot

Describe the function of each part of the eye, limited to:

● Cornea
○ Refracts light, bends as it enters the eye
● Iris
○ Controls how much light enters pupil
● Lens
○ Focuses light onto retina
● Retina
○ Contains light receptors
● Optic nerve
○ Carries impulses to the brain
Explain the pupil reflex in terms of light intensity and antagonistic action of circular and radial
muscles in the iris

56
 ● The pupil of the eye is the dark round area in the centre of it. It is surrounded by a coloured
ring structure called the iris.
● The pupil and ciliary muscle together play a big role in protecting the eye from damage by
limiting the amount of light entering the eye. If too much light fall on the retina, the rods and
cones get damaged. The iris and pupil change their size to smiddle that happening.
● The iris contains two sets of muscles; Circular and Radial muscles. Circular muscles run
around the iris and radial muscles run from the centre to the outside.
● In bright light circular muscles contract to make the pupil smaller.
● In dim light radial muscles contract to stretch the pupil outwards making it wider.
● The circular and radial muscle act antagonistically, when one contracts the other relaxes.

Explain accommodation to view near and distant objects in terms of the contraction and relaxation of
the ciliary muscles, tension in the suspensory ligaments, shape of the lens and refraction of light

Position of object Ciliary muscles Suspensory Muscle tension Lens shape

ligament on lens

Near Contract Slackened Low Fat

Distant Relax Stretched High Thin

Outline the function of rods and cones, limited to greater sensitivity of rods for night vision and three
different kinds of cones absorbing light of different colours for colour vision
● The millions of light-sensitive cells in the retina are of two kinds, the rods and the cones.
● Rods play an important part in night vision.
● Thought to be three types of cone cells, each responds best to red, green, or blue.
● If all three types are equally stimulated we get the sensation of white.

State the distribution of rods and cones in the retina of a human

● Rods
○ Outer edges of retina
● Cones
○ At the fovea
Identify the position of the fovea
● At the central part of the retina

14.3 Hormones in human

Define a hormone as…

57
 ● A chemical substance, produced by a gland and carried by the blood, which alters the activity
of one or more specific target organs

Identify specific endocrine glands and their secretions, limited to adrenal glands and adrenaline,
pancreas and insulin, testes and testosterone and ovaries and oestrogen

Gland Hormone produced

Adrenal gland Adrenaline

Insulin
Pancreas
Glucagon

Testis Testosterone

Ovary Oestrogen

Describe adrenaline as the hormone secreted in ‘fight or flight’ situations and its effects, limited to
increased breathing and pulse rate and widened pupils and give examples of situations in which
adrenaline secretion increases
● Adrenaline prepares the body for activities that need energy and quick reflex
● Effects include increase breathing and pulse rate (more oxygen entering lungs, improved
blood circulation) and widened pupils (can see dangers more clearly)

Discuss the role of the hormone adrenaline in the chemical control of metabolic activity, including
increasing the blood glucose concentration and pulse rate
● The increase beating of the heart increases pulse rate, sending more glucose and oxygen to
muscles
● Converts glycogen to glucose in the liver, so more glucose is available in the blood for energy
production, allowing metabolic activity to increase

Compare nervous and hormonal control systems in terms of speed and longevity of action
● Nervous system send electrical signals and has rapid speed of response. The duration of
response is short: until nerves impulses stop.
● Hormonal system sends chemical signals and has slower speed of response. The duration of
response is long: until hormone is broken down.

State the functions of insulin, oestrogen and testosterone

58
 ● Insulin is secreted in the pancreas. It reduces the concentration of blood glucose​ by signaling
the ​liver​ and muscle and ​fat​ cells to take in glucose from the blood.
● Oestrogen is secreted in the ovary. It causes the development of female secondary sexual
characteristics, as well as helps control the menstrual cycle.
● Testosterone is secreted in the testis. It causes the development of male secondary sexual
characteristics.

14.4 Homeostasis
Define (explain) homeostasis as…
● The maintenance of a constant internal environment, controlling of internal conditions within
set limits
Explain the concept of control by negative feedback
● A mechanism used in homeostasis, in which a change in a parameter brings about actions that
push it back towards normal. 
● If the level of something rises, control systems reduce it again
● If the level of something falls, control systems raise it again
Describe the control of the glucose concentration of the blood by the liver and the roles of insulin and
glucagon from the pancreas
● Blood glucose levels are monitored and controlled by the pancreas
● The pancreas produces and releases different hormones depending on the blood glucose level
● Insulin is released when blood glucose levels are high – the liver stores excess glucose as
glycogen
● Glucagon is released when blood glucose levels are low – the liver converts stored glycogen
into glucose and releases it into the blood
Outline the symptoms and treatment of Type 1 diabetes
● A disorder when the pancreas fails to make enough insulin
● Symptoms include feeling tired, thirsty, frequent urination and weight loss.
● Treatment include regular exercise, injecting insulin, and monitoring the diet
Name and identify on a diagram of the skin: hairs, hair erector muscles, sweat glands, receptors,
sensory neurones, blood vessels and fatty tissue

59
Describe the maintenance of a constant internal body temperature in humans in terms of insulation,
sweating, shivering, the role of the brain, vasodilation and vasoconstriction of arterioles supplying
skin surface capillaries
● Insulation
○ Provided by fatty tissue retains heat. Hairs become erect to trap warm air by
contracting erector muscles and vice versa.
● Vasodilatation
○ When it is hot, arterioles, which supply blood to the skin surface capillaries, dilate
(become wider) to allow more blood near to skin surface to increase heat loss (face
redder)
● Vasoconstriction
○ When it is cold, arterioles, which supply blood to the skin-surface capillaries,
constrict (become smaller) to allow less blood near to skin surface to decrease heat
loss
● Sweating
○ The water evaporates giving a cooling effect
● Skin receptors
○ Sense heat and sensory neurons send impulses to the hypothalamus
● Shivering
○ Muscular activity generates heat
● Thermoregulatory center
○ In the hypothalamus, it controls the use of corrective mechanisms (e.g. sweating and
shivering).

14.5 Tropic response

Define gravitropism as…

60
 ● A response in which parts of a plant grow towards or away from gravity
Define phototropism as…
● A response in which parts of a plant grow towards or away from the direction from which
light is coming
Explain phototropism and gravitropism of a shoot as examples of the chemical control of plant
growth
● Advantages of positive gravitropism include
○ By growing deeply into the soil, the root fixes the plant into the ground firmly,
○ Roots are able to reach more water,
○ Roots have a larger surface area for more diffusion and osmosis.
● Advantages of positive phototropism include
○ Leaves exposed to more sunlight and are able to do more photosynthesis,
○ Flowers can be seen by insects for pollination.
○ The plant gets higher for better seed dispersal.

Investigate gravitropism and phototropism in shoots and roots

Explain the role of auxin in controlling shoot growth, limited to:

● Auxin made in shoot tip (only)
○ When tip is cut, no auxin is produced, hence shoot does not grow longer
● Auxin spreads through the plant from the shoot tip
○ Diffuse to other parts of the plant
● Auxin is unequally distributed in response to light and gravity
○ When more light is shone on one side of the plant, the shaded side will have a higher
concentration of auxin. This causes the shaded side to grow more than the shined on
side of the shoot, making it grow towards the light source.
○ If a potted plant is placed horizontally in the absence​ ​of light, auxin will collect at the
lower part of the shoot and increase the rate of growth in that specific part. This will
cause the plant’s shoot to change direction and give a negative response to gravity.
Similarly, a bean seedling root will always show positive response to gravitropism by
growing downwards, irrespective of the position in which it is planted.
● Auxin stimulates cell elongation
Describe the use in weedkillers of the synthetic plant hormone 2,4-D
● They contain a synthetic form of Auxin called 2,4D which causes rapid growth in weeds, so
that they grow faster and die quickly.

61
 ● This leaves ample space for the other plants and reduced competition, leading to an increase
in their growth.

Chapter 15: Drugs

15.1 Drugs
Define a drug as…
● Any substance taken into the body that modifies or affects chemical reactions in the body

15.2 Medical drugs

Describe the use of antibiotics for the treatment of bacterial infection
● Antibiotics disrupt the production of the cell wall and so prevent the bacteria from
reproducing, or even cause them to burst open.
● They interfere with protein synthesis and thus arrest bacterial growth.

State that some bacteria are resistant to antibiotics which reduces the effectiveness of antibiotics, and
explain how development of resistant bacteria such as MRSA can be minimised, limited to using
antibiotics only when essential and ensuring treatment is completed
● If a course of antibiotics is not completed, some of the bacteria it is being used to destroy will
not be killed, but will have been exposed to the drug.
● Some of the survivors may be drug-resistant mutants.
○ When they reproduce, all their offspring will have the drug resistance, so the
antibiotic will become less effective.
● MRSA is a type of bacteria that has developed resistance to a number of widely used
antibiotics.
● Development of this can be minimised by using antibiotics only when essential and ensuring
treatment is completed.
State and explain why antibiotics kill bacteria, but do not affect viruses
● Antibiotics work by disrupting structures in bacteria such as cell walls and membranes, or
processes associated with protein synthesis and replication of DNA.
● Antibiotics are not effective against viral diseases as viruses have totally different
characteristics to bacteria, so antibiotics do not affect them.

15.3 Misused drugs

Describe the effects of excessive alcohol consumption and abuse of heroin

62
 ● Powerful depressant drugs
● Effect on reaction times and self-control
● Addiction and withdrawal symptoms and negative social implications, e.g. crime.
Explain how heroin affects the nervous system, limited to its effect on the function of synapses
● Produces it effects by interacting with receptor molecules at synapse.
● Heroin mimics the transmitter substances in synapses in the brain, causing the release of
dopamine (a neurotransmitter), which gives a short lived ‘high’.
State that injecting heroin can cause infections such as HIV
State that excessive alcohol consumption can cause liver damage
State that tobacco smoking can cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer
and coronary heart disease
Discuss the evidence for the link between smoking and lung cancer
● Around 90% of lung cancer is caused by smoking
Describe the effects on the gas exchange system of tobacco smoke and its major toxic components,
limited to carbon monoxide, nicotine and tar
● Nicotine is the addictive component of tobacco smoke, produces an increase in the rate if the
heartbeat and a rise in blood pressure and can cause an erratic and irregular heart beat.
● Tar in cigarette smoke is thought to be the main cause of lung cancer in smokers.
● Carbon monoxide permanently binds with haemoglobin in red blood cells, reducing the
smoker’s ability to provide oxygen to respiring cells. This results in a smoker getting out of
breath more easily and it reduces physical fitness.
Discuss the use of hormones to improve sporting performance, limited to testosterone and anabolic
steroids
● Testosterone
○ Made in the testes of males and is responsible for promoting male primary and
secondary sexual characteristics.
○ Taking testosterone supplements (known as ‘doping’) leads to increased muscle and
bone mass, enhancing a sports person’s performance.
● Anabolic steroids
○ These are synthetic derivatives of testosterone.
○ They affect protein metabolism, increasing muscle development and reducing body
fat, thus enhancing athletic performance.
○ (There are serious long-term effects of taking anabolic steroids: sterility,
masculinisation in women, and liver and kidney malfunction.)
State that the liver is the site of breakdown of alcohol and other toxins

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Chapter 16: Reproduction

16.1 Asexual reproduction

Define asexual reproduction as…
● A process resulting in the production of genetically identical offspring from one parent
Identify examples of asexual reproduction from information provided
● Bacteria
○ Binary fusion is undergoes often, so they are able to reproduce in massive numbers
from only one parent
● Fungi
○ When fungi's spores lands in an area of favourable condition (food, water, air), it will
germinate and grow into a new identical fungus
● Runners, rhizomes and bulbs

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of asexual reproduction

● To a population of a species in the wild
○
● – to crop production

16.2 Sexual reproduction

Define sexual reproduction as…
● A process involving the fusion of the nuclei of two gametes (sex cells) to form a zygote and
the production of offspring that are genetically different from each other
Define fertilisation as…
● The fusion of gamete nuclei
State that the nuclei of gametes are haploid and that the nucleus of a zygote is diploid
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of sexual reproduction:
– to a population of a species in the wild
– to crop production

16.3 Sexual reproduction in plants

Identify and draw, using a hand lens if necessary, the sepals, petals, stamens, filaments and anthers,
carpels, style, stigma, ovary and ovules, of an insect-pollinated flower

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State the functions of the sepals, petals, anthers, stigmas and ovaries
● Sepals protects unopened flower
● Petals are bright color to attract insects to pollinate
● Anthers produce male sex cells (pollen)
● Stigma are at the top of the female part of the flower, which collects the pollen seeds
● Ovules produces the female sex cells (contained in the egg itself)

Distinguish between the pollen grains of insect-pollinated and wind-pollinated flowers

● Insect pollinated
○ Sticky or spiky to stick to the insects
● Wind pollinated
○ Smooth and light: easily carried by the wind without clumping together

Define pollination as…

● The transfer of pollen grains from the anther to the stigma
Define self-pollination as…
● The transfer of pollen grains from the anther of a flower to the stigma of the same flower or
different flower on the same plant
Define cross-pollination as…
● Transfer of pollen grains from the anther of a flower to the stigma of a flower on a different
plant of the same species

Discuss the implications to a species of self-pollination and cross-pollination in terms of variation,

capacity to respond to changes in the environment and reliance on pollinators
● Self pollination
○ No variation, no able to adapt to changing environments, no reliance on pollinators
● Cross pollination

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 ○ Guaranteed variation, better chance of adapting to changing environments, reliance
on pollinators to carry the pollen to plants

Describe the growth of the pollen tube and its entry into the ovule followed by fertilisation (details of
​ ot ​required) and state that fertilisation occurs when a
production of endosperm and development are n
pollen nucleus fuses with a nucleus in an ovule
● When a pollen grain lands on the stigma of a flower of the correct species, a pollen tube
begins to grow.
● It grows down the style and into the ovary, where it enters a small hole, the micropyle, in an
ovule.
● This is followed by fertilization: the nucleus of the pollen passing along pollen tube and fuses
with the nucleus of the ovule.

Describe the structural adaptations of insect-pollinated and wind-pollinated flowers

Investigate and state the environmental conditions that affect germination of seeds, limited to the
requirement for water, oxygen and a suitable temperature
● Water lets the seed swell and the embryo starts to grow
● Oxygen is needed for aerobic respiration
● Warmth increases growth rate and enzyme activity (yet too high temperature will denature the
enzymes)

16.4 Sexual reproduction in human

Identify and name on diagrams of the male reproductive system: the testes, scrotum, sperm ducts,
prostate gland, urethra and penis, and state the functions of these parts

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Identify and name on diagrams of the female reproductive system: the ovaries, oviducts, uterus, cervix
and vagina, and state the functions of these parts

Describe fertilisation as…

● The fusion of the nuclei from a male gamete (sperm) and a female gamete (egg cell/ovum).
● This produces a new cell called the zygote, which matures to an embryo.

State and explain the adaptive features of sperm, limited to flagellum, mitochondria and enzymes in
the acrosome
● Has a tail called the flagellum which propels the sperm, helping it to swim to the egg cell.

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 ● Has a nucleus, which contains genetic material for fertilisation.
● The mitochondria carries out aerobic respiration, providing energy to swim to the egg.
● Has an acrosome, which contains enzymes capable of digesting a path into an egg cell,
through the jelly coat, so the sperm nucleus can fuse with the egg nucleus.

State and explain the adaptive features of egg cells, limited to energy stores and a jelly coating that
changes after fertilisation
● Contains lots of cytoplasm to support the many division that the zygote undergoes and has
nutrients for growth of the early embryo.
● The cell membrane becomes impenetrable once the first sperm interacts with it: it
immediately becomes impenetrable.

State that in early development, the zygote forms an embryo which is a ball of cells that implants into
the wall of the uterus

State the functions of the umbilical cord, placenta, amniotic sac and amniotic fluid
● The umbilical cord carries oxygenated blood and nutrients from the placenta to the fetus
through the abdomen
● The placenta anchors the embryo in the uterus.
○ It also allows nutrients and oxygen to move from the mother to the embryo waste
materials and carbon dioxide to move from the embryo to the mother
● The amniotic sac produces amniotic fluid, which surrounds and protects the developing
embryo.

Outline the growth and development of the fetus in terms of increasing complexity in the early stages
and increasing size towards the end of pregnancy
● After fertilisation, the newly-formed zygote divides repeatedly in increasing complexity to
form a ball of cells called an embryo.
● This becomes implanted in the wall of the uterus. After eight weeks of development, the
embryo is called a fetus.
● The fetus increases in size towards the end of pregnancy
Describe the ante-natal care of pregnant women, limited to special dietary needs and the harm from
smoking and alcohol consumption
● ‘Antenatal” or “prenatal” refers to the period before birth. Antenatal care is the way a woman
should look after herself during pregnancy, so that the birth will be safe and her baby healthy.

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 ○ Take more iron and folic acid (a vitamin) to prevent anaemia (deficiency in red blood
cells).
○ Drinking or smoking are more likely to cause babies with low birth weights. These
babies are more likely to be ill than babies of normal birth weights.

Outline the processes involved in labour and birth

● Breaking of the amniotic sac
● Contraction of the muscles in the uterus wall
● Dilation of the cervix
● Passage through the vagina
● Tying and cutting the umbilical cord
● Delivery of the afterbirth

Compare male and female gametes in terms of size, structure, motility and numbers
● Sperms are smaller and produced in larger numbers.

State that some toxins, e.g. nicotine, and pathogens, e.g. rubella virus, can pass across the placenta
and affect the fetus

Describe the function of the placenta and umbilical cord in relation to exchange of dissolved
nutrients, gases and excretory products and providing a barrier to toxins and pathogens (structural
details are not​ ​required)
● A placenta, connected by an umbilical cord, develops from the embryo.
● The placenta anchors the embryo in the uterus.
○ Nutrients and oxygen to move from the mother to the embryo
○ Waste materials and carbon dioxide to move from the embryo to the mother
○ The mother and embryo’s blood does not mix. These materials pass from one to the
other by diffusion.
● The placenta can prevent some harmful substances, such as certain toxins and pathogen in the
mother’s blood from reaching the embryo.
○ However it cannot prevent all of them: alcohol and nicotine can pass to the
developing fetus. Some pathogens such as the rubella virus and HIV can pass across
the placenta.
● The placenta produces hormones, including oestrogens and progesterone which are essential
to keep the uterus in good condition and stimulate milk-producing tissues in the mother.

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Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of breast-feeding compared with bottle-feeding using
formula milk

Advantages Disadvantages

● Has antibodies; no bacteria ● May be painful

● No risk of allergic reaction ● Mother need to be present
Breastfeeding ● No additives/preservatives
● Builds mother-child bond
● At correct temperature

● Less painful ● More likely to develop illness

● Other people can feed baby (diarrhea, urine infection)
Formula milk (mother not need be present) ● Risk of wrong mixture
● May contain supplement ● Expensive
vitamins or minerals

16.5 Sex hormones in human

Describe the roles of testosterone and oestrogen in the development and regulation of secondary
sexual characteristics during puberty
● Testosterone
○ Produced by the testes; controls the development of male secondary sexual
characteristics
■ Body hair grows, voice breaks, muscle growth increases
● Oestrogen
○ Produced by the ovaries; controls the development of male secondary sexual
characteristics
■ Increased breast size, pubic hair grows, wide hips develop

Describe the menstrual cycle in terms of changes in the ovaries and in the lining of the uterus
● The ovaries release an ovum about every 4 weeks.
● In preparation for this the lining of the uterus wall thickens, so that an embryo can embed
itself if the release ovum is fertilised.
● If no implantation occurs, the uterus lining breaks down. The cells, along with blood are
passed out of the vagina. This is called a menstrual period.

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Describe the sites of production of oestrogen and progesterone in the menstrual cycle and in
pregnancy
● Oestrogen and progesterone is produced by the ovaries, and in the placenta during pregnancy

Explain the role of hormones in controlling the menstrual cycle and pregnancy, limited to FSH, LH,
progesterone and oestrogen
● FSH: causes an egg to mature in an ovary, stimulates the ovary to release oestrogen
● Oestrogen: stops FSH from being produce (so only one egg is matured), repairs and thickens
uterus lining, stimulates the pituitary gland to release LH
● LH: triggers ovulation (the release of a mature egg)
● Progesterone: maintains the lining of the uterus during middle parts of the menstrual cycle
and pregnancy

16.6 Methods of birth control in human

Outline the following methods of birth control
● Natural
○ Abstinence: no sexual intercourse
○ Monitoring body temperature: rhythm method
○ Cervical mucus: checking the texture
● Chemical
○ IUD (intrauterine device): a small T-shaped plastic and copper device, inserted by a
doctor into the wall of the uterus, where it probably prevents implantation of a
fertilised ovum.
○ Contraceptive injection: contains progesterone which thickens mucus of cervix which
stops sperm from reaching egg and making it unsuitable for embryo implantation
○ IUS: releases progesterone over a long period of time which prevents ovulation
○ Contraceptive pill: contains chemical which prevents ovulation
○ Contraceptive implant: a small tube inserted under the skin of a woman, over three
years it will slowly release progesterone, preventing pregnancy
● Barrier
○ Condoms: layer of cover wore over the penis that prevents semen from entering the
women’s body. Also prevents STIs and STDs.
○ Femidom: female condom, like a bag in the vagina where the penis is inserted so that
the ejaculaed semen will not enter the women’s body

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 ○ Diaphragm: small circular piece of rubber which fits over woman’s cervix to prevent
sperm from passing through it
● Surgical
○ Vasectomy: men’s sperm ducts are cut and sealed so the sperms do not leave the body
○ Female sterilisation: female’s oviducts are cut and sealed to ensure egg cannot pass
down to the uterus

Outline the use of hormones in contraception and fertility treatments

● Fertility drugs
○ Treats the failure to produce ovum by increasing levels of FSH and LH
● Oestrogen and progesterone control important events in the menstrual cycle. These hormones
can be used, singly or in combination, in a range of contraceptive methods.

Outline artificial insemination (AI)

● If the male is infertile, not enough sperm or sperm not mobile enough, pregnancy may be
achieved by AI. This involves injecting semen through a tube into the top of the uterus.

Outline in vitro fertilisation (IVF)

● Multiple ova caused by fertility drugs are collected by laparoscopy (they are sucked up in a
fine tube inserted through the abdominal wall).
● The ova are then mixed with the husband’s seminal fluid and watched under the microscope
to see if cell division takes place.
● One or more of the dividing zygotes are then introduced to the woman’s uterus by means of a
tube inserted through the cervix.

Discuss the social implications of contraception and fertility treatments

● Some religions are against any artificial forms of contraception and actively discourage the
use of contraceptives such as the sheath and femidom.
● Fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization are controversial because of the ‘spare’
embryos that are created and not returned to the uterus. Some people believe that since these
embryos are potential human beings, they should not be destroyed or used for research.
16.7 Sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
Define sexually transmitted infection as...
● An infection that is transmitted via body fluids through sexual contact
State that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is an example of an STI

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Explain how the spread of STIs is controlled
● Avoid STI is to avoid having sexual intercourse with an infected person.
● Risk of catching a STD can be reduced by using condoms or femidoms.
● STIs that are caused by a bacterium, such as syphilis and gonorrhoea, can be treated with
antibiotics if the symptoms are recognised early enough. However, HIV is viral so antibiotics
are not effective.

Describe the methods of transmission of HIV and state that HIV infection may lead to AIDS
● HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is transmitted by direct infection of the blood. Drug
users who share needles contaminated with infected blood run a high risk of the disease.
● Can also be transmitted sexually.
● Babies born to HIV carriers may become infected with HIV. If HIV antibodies are present in
the blood, the person is said the be HIV positive.
● This virus can cause AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome)

Outline how HIV affects the immune system, limited to decreased lymphocyte numbers and reduced
ability to produce antibodies
● HIV attacks certain kinds of lymphocyte, so the number of these cells in the body decreases.
○ Lymphocytes produce antibodies against infections. If the body cannot respond to
infections through the immune system, it becomes vulnerable to pathogens that might
not otherwise by life-threatening.
● As a result, the patient has little or no resistance to a wide range of diseases such a influenza,
pneumonia, blood disorders, skin cancer or damage to the nervous system, which the body
cannot resist.

Chapter 17: Inheritance

17.1 Inheritance
Define inheritance as…
● The transmission of genetic information from generation to generation

17.2 Chromosomes, genes and proteins

Define chromosome as…
● A thread-like structure of DNA, carrying genetic information in the form of genes
Define gene as…

73
 ● A length of DNA that codes for a protein
Define allele as…
● A version of a gene
Describe the inheritance of sex in humans with reference to XX and XY chromosomes
● One of these pairs controls the inheritance of biological gender – whether offspring are male
or female
○ Males have two different sex chromosomes, X and Y
○ Females have two X chromosomes, XX
● The ratio of female to male offspring is 1:1 – on average, half of the offspring will be girls
and half will be boys

Explain that the sequence of bases in a gene is the genetic code for putting together amino acids in
the correct order to make a specific protein (knowledge of the details of nucleotide structure is not
required)
● Each nucleotide carries one of four bases (A, T, C or G). a string of nucleotides therefore
holds a sequence of bases. This sequence forms a code, which instructs the cell to make
particular proteins.

Explain that DNA controls cell function by controlling the production of proteins (some of which are
enzymes), antibodies and receptors for neurotransmitters
● The type and sequence of the amino acids joined together will determine the kind of protein
formed.
● Its is the sequence of bases in the DNA molecule that decides which amino acids are used and
in which order they are joined. Each group of three bases stands for one amino acid.
● A gene then specifies an entire protein.
● The chemical reactions that take place in a cell determine what sort of a cell it is and what its
functions are. These chemical reactions are, in turn, controlled by enzymes.
● Enzymes are proteins. It follows, therefore, that the genetic code of DNA, in determining
which proteins, particularly enzymes, are produced in a cell, also determines the cell’s
structure and function. In this way, the genes also determine the structure and function of the
whole organism.
● Other proteins coded for in DNA include antibodies and the receptors for neurotransmitters.

Explain how a protein is made, limited to:

74
 ● The gene coding for the protein remains in the nucleus, mRNA molecules carry a copy of the
gene to the cytoplasm
● The mRNA passes through ribosomes
● The specific order of amino acids is determined by the sequence of bases in the mRNA

Explain that all body cells in an organism contain the same genes, but many genes in a particular cell
are not expressed because the cell only makes the specific proteins it needs
● Body cells do not all have the same requirements for proteins. For example, the function of
some cells in the stomach is to make the protein pepsin. Bone marrow cells make the protein
haemoglobin, but do not need digestive enzymes.
● Specialised cells all contain the same genes in their nuclei, but only the genes needed to code
for the specific proteins are switched on (expressed). This enables the cell to make only the
proteins it needs to fulfil its function.

Define a haploid nucleus as…

● A nucleus containing a single set of unpaired chromosomes, e.g. in gametes
Define a diploid nucleus as…
● A nucleus containing two sets of chromosomes, e.g. in body cells

State that in a diploid cell, there is a pair of each type of chromosome and in a human diploid cell
there are 23 pairs

17.3 Mitosis
Define mitosis as…
● Nuclear division giving rise to genetically identical cells

State the role of mitosis in growth, repair of damaged tissues, replacement of cells and asexual
reproduction
● Cells have a finite life: they wear out or become damaged, so they need to be replaced
constantly.
● The processes of growth, repair and replacement of cells all rely on mitosis.
● Organisms that reproduce asexually also use mitosis to create more cells.

State that the exact duplication of chromosomes occurs before mitosis

75
State that during mitosis, the copies of chromosomes separate, maintaining the chromosome number
● Each chromosome duplicates itself and is seen to be made up of two parallel strands, called
chromatids.
● When the nucleus divides into two, one chromatid from each chromosomes and later they will
make copies of themselves ready for the next cell division.
● The process of copying is called replication because each chromosome makes a replica of
itself.
● Mitosis produces two genetically identical cells in which the number of chromosomes is the
same as in the original cell.

Describe stem cells as unspecialised cells that divide by mitosis to produce daughter cells that can
become specialised for specific functions
● Stem cells are those cells in the body that have retained their power of division.
● Examples are the basal cells of the skin, which keep dividing to make new skin cells, and cells
in the red bone marrow, which constantly divide to produce the whole range of blood cells

Key process:
1. Firstly, DNA replicates to form two copies of each chromosomes. The cell also grows, and
copies its internal structures such as mitochondria and ribosomes.
2. Mitosis then takes place. One set of chromosome is pulled to each end of the cell. The nucleus
also divides.
3. Finally, the cytoplasm and cell membrane divide to form two identical cells.

17.4 Meiosis
Define meiosis as…

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 ● Reduction division in which the chromosome number is halved from diploid to haploid
resulting in genetically different cells

State that meiosis is involved in the production of gametes

● Meiosis takes place in the gonads of animals (eg. the testes and ovaries of mammals)
● The cells formed are gametes (sperm and egg cells in mammals). Gametes are different from
other cells because they have half the normal number of chromosomes (they are haploid).

Explain how meiosis produces variation by forming new combinations of maternal and paternal
chromosomes
● Meiosis produces four genetically different haploid cells. Unlike mitosis, meiosis is a
reduction division – the chromosome number is halved from diploid
● As a result of meiosis and fertilisation, the maternal and paternal chromosomes meet in
different combinations in the zygotes. Consequently, the offspring will differ from their
parents and from each other in a variety of ways.

(Difference between Mitosis and Meiosis)

Mitosis Meiosis

Diploid cells made Haploid cells made

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Used for growth and repair Used for sexual reproduction

Cells made are genetically identical to starting Cells made are genetically different to starting
cell and each other cell and each other

Two cells are produced Four cells are produced

One division occurs Two divisions occur

Interphase happens before cell division Interphase happens before cell division

17.5 Monohybrid inheritance

Define genotype as…
● The genetic makeup of an organism in terms of the alleles present
Define phenotype as…
● The observable features of an organism

Define homozygous as…

● Having two identical alleles of a particular gene
State that two identical homozygous individuals that breed together will be pure-breeding

Define heterozygous as…

● Having two different alleles of a particular gene
State that a heterozygous individual will not be pure-breeding

Define dominant as...

● An allele that is expressed if it is present
Define recessive as...
● An allele that is only expressed when there is no dominant allele of the gene present

Interpret pedigree diagrams for the inheritance of a given characteristic

Use genetic diagrams to predict the results of monohybrid crosses and calculate phenotypic ratios,
limited to 1:1 and 3:1 ratios
● Pedigree diagrams are similar to family trees and can be used to demonstrate how genetic
diseases can be inherited.
● They include symbols to indicate whether individuals are male or female and what their
genotype is for a particular genetic characteristic.

78
Use Punnett squares in crosses which result in more than one genotype to work out and show the
possible different genotypes

Explain co-dominance by reference to the inheritance of ABO blood groups – phenotypes being A, B,
AB and O blood groups and alleles being IA, IB and Io
● If both genes of an allelomorphic pair produce their effects in an individual (ie. neither allele
is dominant to the other) the alleles are said to be codominant
● The inheritance of the human ABO blood groups provides an example of codominance
○ The gene controlling human ABO blood groups has three alleles, not just two
■ I^A and I^B are not dominant over one another
■ Both are dominant over I^O

Define a sex-linked characteristic as…

● A characteristic in which the gene responsible is located on a sex chromosome and that this
makes it more common in one sex than in the other

Describe colour blindness as an example of sex linkage

● For example: if the mother is a carrier of colorblindness (X​C​X​c​). This means she shows no
symptoms of colour blindness, but the recessive allele causing color blindness is present on
one of her X chromosomes.
● The father has normal colour vision (X​C​Y).
● If the gene responsible for a particular condition is present only on the Y chromosome, only
males can suffer from the condition because females do not possess the Y chromosome.
○ F1 genotypes: X​C​X​C​, X​C​X​c​, X​C​Y, X​c​Y
○ F1 phenotypes: 2 females with normal vision; 2 males, one with normal vision, one
with colour blindness.
Use genetic diagrams to predict the results of monohybrid crosses involving codominance or sex
linkage and calculate phenotypic ratios

Chapter 18: Variation

18.1 Variation
Define variation as...
● Differences between individuals of the same species

79
Distinguish between phenotypic variation and genetic variation
● Genetic variation are variations that are determined by genes.
● While phenotypic variations may be brought about by genes, but can also be caused by the
environment, or a combination of both genes and the environment.

State that…
● Continuous variation results in a range of phenotypes between two extremes (e.g. height in
humans) while discontinuous variation results in a limited number of phenotypes with no
intermediates, e.g. tongue rolling
● Discontinuous variation is mostly caused by genes alone, e.g. A, B, AB and O blood groups in
humans
● Phenotypic variation is caused by both genetic and environmental factors

Record and present the results of investigations into continuous and discontinuous variation

Define mutation as…

● Genetic change
Define gene mutation as
● A change in the base sequence of DNA

State that mutation is the way in which new alleles are formed

State that ionising radiation and some chemicals increase the rate of mutation
● Chemical mutagens – such as tar from cigarette smoke.
● Ionising radiation – gamma rays, X-rays and ultraviolet rays.
● The greater the dose of radiation a cell gets, the greater the chance of a mutation.

Describe the symptoms of sickle-cell anaemia

● Sickle cells affect the red blood cells, making them harder and less flexible, so they can get
stuck in blood vessels and block them.
● Sickle cells are also destroyed easier than normal red blood cells, so people with SCD tend to
be short on red blood cells.

Explain how a change in the base sequence of the gene for haemoglobin results in abnormal
haemoglobin and sickle-shaped red blood cells

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 ● With sickle-cell anaemia, the haemoglobin molecule differs from normal haemoglobin by
only one amino acid (represented by a sequence of three base)
● A change of just one base (from A to T) makes a significant difference to the characteristics
of the protein (haemoglobin).

Use genetic diagrams to show how sickle-cell anaemia is inherited

State that people who are heterozygous (HbSHbA) for the sickle-cell allele have a resistance to
malaria
● The malaria cells are unable to invade and reproduce in the sickle cells

Explain the distribution of the sickle-cell allele in human populations with reference to the
distribution of malaria
● The selection pressure of malaria favours the heterozygotes (HbSHbA) over the homozygotes
(HbAHbA) and hence the potentially harmful HbS allele is kept in the population.
● When Africans migrate to countries where malaria does not occur, the selective advantage of
the Hb^S allele is lost and the frequency of this allele in the population diminishes.

18.2 Adaptive features

Define adaptive feature as…

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 ● An inherited feature that helps an organism to survive and reproduce in its environment; the
inherited functional features of an organism that increase its fitness

Interpret images or other information about a species to describe its adaptive features

Define fitness as…

● The probability of an organism surviving and reproducing in the environment in which it is
found

Explain the adaptive features of hydrophytes and xerophytes to their environments

● Plants modified to cope with lack of water are called xerophytes.
○ Adaptive features include loss of leaves removes virtually all evaporating surfaces at
a time when water may become unavailable.
○ Xerophytes include Pine trees, Cacti and Marram grass.
● Plants adapted to living in water are called hydrophytes.
○ The leaves contain large air spaces to make them buoyant, so they float on or near the
surface.
○ This enables them to gain light for photosynthesis.
○ The lower epidermis lacks stomata to prevent water entering the air spaces, while
stomata are present on the upper epidermis for gas exchange.
○ Hydrophytes include the Water lily.

18.3 Selection
Describe natural selection with reference to…
● Variation within populations
● Production of many offspring
● Competition for resources
● Struggle for survival
● Reproduction by individuals that are better adapted to the environment than others
● Passing on of their alleles to the next generation

Describe evolution as…

● the change in adaptive features of a population over time as the result of natural selection
Define the process of adaptation as…

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 ● The process, resulting from natural selection, by which populations become more suited to
their environment over many generations

Describe the development of strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria as an example of evolution by

natural selection
● Over time, bacteria can become resistant due to random mutations in the genes to certain
antibiotics (such as penicillin). This is an example of natural selection.
● In a large population of bacteria, there may be some that are not affected by an antibiotic.
● These survive and reproduce – producing more bacteria that are not affected by the antibiotic.
● The number of strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has increased, partly due to the misuse of
antibiotics.

State the differences between natural and artificial selection

● Natural selection occurs in groups of living organisms through the passing on of genes to the
next generation by the best adapted organisms, without human interference.
○ Those with genes that provide an advantage, to cope with changes in environmental
conditions for example, are more likely to survive, while others die before they can
breed and pass on their genes.
○ However, variation within the population remains.
● Artificial selection is used by humans to produce varieties of animals and plants that have an
increased economic importance.
○ It is considered a safe way of developing new strains of organisms, compared with
genetic engineering, and is much faster process than natural selection.
○ However, artificial selection removes variation from a population, leaving it
susceptible to disease and unable to cope with changes in environmental condition.

Describe selective breeding with reference to:

● Selection by humans of individuals with desirable features
● Crossing these individuals to produce the next generation
● Selection of offspring showing the desirable features

Outline how selective breeding by artificial selection is carried out over many generations to improve
crop plants and domesticated animals
● Offspring with the most desirable features are chosen to continue the breeding programme
and the process is repeated over a number of generations.

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 ○ The largest fruit on a tomato plant might be picked and its seeds planted next year. In
the next generation, once again only seeds from the largest tomatoes are planted.
○ Eventually it is possible to produce a true-breeding variety of tomato plant that forms
large fruits.
○ Similar principles can be applied to farm animals.

Chapter 19: Organisms and their environment

19.1 Energy flow

State that the Sun is the principal source of energy input to biological systems

Describe the flow of energy through living organisms including light energy from the sun and
chemical energy in organisms and its eventual transfer to the environment
● Most energy (except for tidal and atomic) released on Earth is derived from sunlight.
● The energy released by animals comes, ultimately, from plants that they or their prey eat and
the plants depend on sunlight for making their food.
● Photosynthesis is a process in which light energy is trapped by plants and converted into
chemical energy (stored in molecules such as carbohydrates, fats and proteins).
● Since all animals depend, in the end, on plants for their food, they therefore depend indirectly
on sunlight.
● Eventually, through one process or another, all the chemical energy in organisms is
transferred to the environment.

19.2 Food chains and food webs

Define a food chain as…
● Showing the transfer of energy from one organism to the next, beginning with a producer

State that energy is transferred between organisms in a food chain by ingestion, and construct simple
food chains

Describe how energy is transferred between trophic levels

● Energy decreases as it moves up trophic levels because energy is lost as metabolic heat when
the organisms from one trophic level are consumed by organisms from the next level.
Define trophic level as…

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 ● The position of an organism in a food chain, food web, pyramid of numbers or pyramid of
biomass

Explain why the transfer of energy from one trophic level to another is inefficient
● Energy decreases as it moves up trophic levels because energy is lost as metabolic heat when
the organisms from one trophic level are consumed by organisms from the next level.
● Energy transfer is inefficient because energy is lost while moving from one trophic level to
another. This is because not the entire organism is consumed or digested.

Explain why food chains usually have fewer than five trophic levels
● It is very unusual for food chains to have more than five trophic levels because, on average,
about 90% of the energy is lost at each level.

Explain why there is a greater efficiency in supplying plants as human food, and that there is a
relative inefficiency in feeding crop plants to livestock that will be used as food
● Short food chains are more efficient than long ones in providing energy to the top consumer.
● Ten times more energy is available to the human in the second food chain than in the first.

Define a food web as...

● A network of interconnected food chains
Define producer as…
● ​An organism that makes its own organic nutrients, usually using energy from sunlight,
through photosynthesis
Define consumer as…
● An organism that gets its energy by feeding on other organisms

State that consumers may be classed as primary, secondary and tertiary according to their position in
a food chain and identify producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers
and quaternary consumers as the trophic levels in food webs, food chains, pyramids of numbers and
pyramids of biomass
● Producers are plants that produce food.
● Primary consumer are animals that eat the plants.
● Secondary consumer are animals that prey on the plant-eaters.
● Tertiary consumers are animals that feed on secondary consumers.
● Quaternary consumer is an animal that is at the top of the food chain.

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Define herbivore as...
● An animal that gets its energy by eating plants
Define carnivore as...
● An animal that gets its energy by eating other animals
Define decomposer as...
● An organism that gets its energy from dead or waste organic material

Interpret food chains and food webs in terms of identifying producers and consumers, and use food
chains and food webs to describe the impacts humans have through overharvesting of food species
and through introducing foreign species to a habitat, as well as draw, describe and interpret
pyramids of numbers

Draw, describe and interpret pyramids of biomass

● Biomass is the total dry mass of one animal or plant species in a food chain or food web.
● A pyramid of biomass shows the biomass at each trophic level, rather than the population.
Discuss the advantages of using a pyramid of biomass rather than a pyramid of numbers to represent
a food chain
● Nearly always the correct pyramid shape.
● More accurate indication of how much energy is passed on at each trophic level.

19.3 Nutrient cycles

Describe the carbon cycle, limited to photosynthesis, respiration, feeding, decomposition, fossilisation
and combustion
● Removing CO2 from the atmosphere
○ Plants use carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for photosynthesis.
○ The carbon becomes part of complex molecules in the plants, such as proteins, fats
and carbohydrates.
● Passing carbon from one organism to the next:
○ When an animal eats a plant, carbon from the plant becomes part of the fats and
proteins in the animal.
○ Microorganisms and some animals feed on waste material from animals, and the
remains of dead animals and plants.
○ The carbon then becomes part of these organisms.
● Returning CO2 to the atmosphere:
○ Carbon dioxide is released to the atmosphere by many different means.

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 ■ Respiration by animals, plants and microorganisms.
■ Released by the combustion of wood and fossil fuels (such as coal, oil and
natural gas).
■ Use of fossil fuels
■ Decomposition or decay also releases carbon dioxide.
○ This process happens faster in warm, moist conditions with plenty of oxygen because
it involves microorganisms.
○ Decay can be very slow in cold, dry conditions, and when there is a shortage of
oxygen.

Discuss the effects of the combustion of fossil fuels and the cutting down of forests on the carbon
dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere
● The burning the fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum and releasing extra CO2 into the
atmosphere
● Deforestation is also another contributing factor
○ Trees are responsible for removing gaseous CO2 and trapping the carbon in organic
molecules (carbohydrates, proteins and fats).
○ When they are cut down the amount of photosynthesis globally is reduced.
○ The burning in the ‘slash and burn’ process of deforestation releases even more
atmospheric CO2.

Describe the water cycle, limited to evaporation, transpiration, condensation and precipitation
● Evaporation
○ Energy from the Sun heats the Earth’s surface and water evaporates from oceans,
rivers and lakes. The warm air rises, carrying water vapour with it.
● Transpiration
○ Transpiration from plants releases water vapour into the air.
● Condensation
○ The moist air cools down as it rises. Water vapour condenses back into liquid water,
and this condensation process produces clouds.
● Precipitation
○ As the water droplets in the cloud get bigger and heavier, they begin to fall as rain,
snow and sleet. This is called precipitation

Describe the nitrogen cycle and state the roles of microorganisms in the nitrogen cycle

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● Nitrogen compounds found in cells include proteins. Nitrogen from the air is converted into
soluble ions that plant roots can absorb. It forms part of nitrogen compounds in the plants, and
is then passed from one organism to the next. It is returned to the atmosphere as nitrogen gas.
This is the nitrogen cycle.
● Nitrogenous products in soil from living things.
○ The excretory products of animals contain nitrogenous waste products such as
ammonia, urea and uric acid.
○ When a plant or animal dies, it tissues decompose. NH3 is a product of the decay of
animal and plant protein which dissolves readily in water to form ammonium ions
(NH4-).
● Nitrifying bacteria (add nitrates to the soil)
○ These are bacteria living in the soil, which use the ammonia from excretory products
and decaying organisms as a source of energy. In the process of getting energy from
ammonia called nitrification, the bacteria produce nitrates.
○ Plant roots take up nitrates more readily than ammonium compounds, so the nitrifying
bacteria increase the fertility of the soil by making nitrates available to the plants.
● Nitrogen-fixing bacteria (adds nitrates to the soil)
○ This is a special group of nitrifying bacteria that can absorb nitrogen as a gas from the
air spaces in the soil, and build it into compounds of ammonia.
○ The process of building the gas, nitrogen, into compounds of ammonia is called
nitrogen fixation. The ammonia compounds can be changed to nitrates later by other
nitrifying bacteria.
● Lighting (adds nitrate to the soil)
○ The high temperature of lightning discharge causes some of the nitrogen and oxygen
in the air to combine and form oxides of nitrogen.
○ These dissolve in the rain and are washed into the soil as weak acids, where they form
nitrates.
● Uptake by plants (removes nitrates from the soil)
○ Plant roots absorb nitrates from the soil and combines them with carbohydrates to
make amino acids, which are built up into proteins.
○ These proteins are then available to animals, which feed on the plants and digest the
proteins in them.
● Leaching (removes nitrates from the soil)
○ Nitrates are very soluble and as rainwater passes through the soil it dissolves the
nitrates and carries them away in the run-off or to deeper layers of the soil.

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 ● Denitrifying bacteria
○ These are bacteria that obtain their energy by breaking down nitrates to nitrogen gas,
which then escapes from the soil into the atmosphere.

19.4 Population Size

Define population as…
● A group of organisms of one species, living in the same area, at the same time
Define community as…
● All of the populations of different species in an ecosystem
Define ecosystem as...
● A unit containing the community of organisms and their environment, interacting together,
e.g. a decomposing log, or a lake
Identify and state the factors affecting the rate of population growth for a population of an organism,
limited to…
● Food supply, predation and disease
Discuss the increase in human population size over the past 250 years and its social and
environmental implications
● Human population has been rapidly increasing, with reduced infant mortality rate and increase
life expectancy. This leads to a higher demand for food, water, space and other resources.
● Agricultural development and economic expansion led to improvements in nutrition, housing
and sanitation, and to clean water supplies.
○ These improvements reduced the incidence of infectious diseases in the general
population, and better-fed children could resist these infections when they did meet
them.
● The social changes probably affect the population growth more than did the discovery of new
drugs or improved medical techniques.
○ Longer and better education
■ Marriage is postponed and a better-educated couple will have learned about
methods of family limitation.
○ Application of family planning method
■ Either natural methods of birth control or use of contraceptives is much more
common.

Identify the lag, exponential (log), stationary and death phases in the sigmoid population growth
curve for a population growing in an environment with limited resources and explain the factors that

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lead to each phase in the sigmoid curve of population growth, making reference, where appropriate,
to the role of limiting factors

● Lag phase.
○ The population is small. (1)
● Exponential(log) phase.
○ Continued doubling of the population at each generation produces a logarithmic
growth rate. Competition for food and space later causes growth rate starts to slow
down. (2)
● Stationary phase.
○ The resources will no longer support an increasing population. At this stage, limiting
factors come into play, such as food supply and space.
○ Now the mortality (death) rate equals the reproduction rate, so the population number
stays the same. (3)
● Death phase.
○ The mortality rate is now greater than the reproduction rate, so the population
numbers begin to drop.
○ Fewer offspring will live long enough to reproduce. The decline in population
numbers can happen because the food supply is insufficient, waste products
contaminate the habitat or disease spreads through the population.

● Abiotic and biotic limiting factors

○ Plant populations will be affected by abiotic (non-biological) factors such as rainfall,
temperature and light intensity.
○ Biotic (biological) factors affecting plants include their leaves being eaten by
browsing and grazing animals or by caterpillars and other insects, and the spread of
fungus disease.
○ Animal populations will to be limited by these factors.

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 ○ The size of an animal population will also be affected by immigration and emigration.

Interpret graphs and diagrams of human population growth

Chapter 20: Biotechnology and genetic engineering

20.1 Biotechnology and genetic engineering

Discuss why bacteria are useful in biotechnology and genetic engineering, limited to…
● Their rapid reproduction rate
● Their ability to make complex molecules
● The lack of ethical concerns over their manipulation and growth
● Their genetic code shared with all other organisms
○ So genes from other animals or plants can be successfully transferred into bacterial
DNA.
● Presence of plasmids

20.2 Biotechnology
Describe the role of anaerobic respiration in yeast during production of ethanol for biofuels
● Yeast is able to respire anaerobically, which produces ethanol and carbon dioxide
○ Glucose -> ethanol + carbon dioxide
○ Also called fermentation
● Making biofuels
○ Treat maize with amylase enzymes, breaking down the stored starch to glucose
○ Yeast is then added, using the glucose in anaerobic respiration
○ Ethanol is produced and extracted

Describe the role of anaerobic respiration in yeast during bread-making

● Flour is mixed with water and yeast to make dough
● Amylase enzymes break down some of the starch in the dough to make maltose and glucose,
which the yeast uses in anaerobic respiration.
● Bubbles of carbon dioxide are produced and are trapped in the dough, causing the dough to
rise

Investigate and describe the use of pectinase in fruit juice production

● Fruit juice are extracted with an enzyme called pectinase

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 ● Pectin sticks plant cells together, pectinase breaks down these pectin, so fruits such as apples
and oranges which contain a lot of pectin are easily squeezed

Investigate and describe the use of biological washing powders that contain enzymes
● The enzymes help break down other kind of substance which can stain clothes
● Enzymes can include proteins, which catalyse the breakdown protein molecules (stains such
as blood), or lipase which can catalyse the breakdown of fats to fatty acids and glycerol
(greasy stains)

Investigate and explain the use of lactase to produce lactose-free milk

● Lactase breaks down the lactose in milk to glucose and galactose

Describe the role of the fungus Penicillium in the production of the antibiotic penicillin
● Penicillin (antibiotic) is made by growing the fungus Penicillium (fungus) in a large fermenter
● When Penicillium is grown in a culture medium containing carbohydrates and amino acids,
after around 24 hours, it begins to secrete penicillin
● The rate at which it is secreted partly depends on how much sugar it has available, so small
amounts of sugar have to be fed into the fermenter
Explain how fermenters are used in the production of penicillin
● Steam or cold water can be added to the is run along the exterior (in and out) to control
temperature
● Various openings are included to provide air supply is provided and to add sugars

20.3 Genetic engineering

Define genetic engineering as…
● Changing the genetic material of an organism by removing, changing or inserting individual
genes

State examples of genetic engineering

● Inserting human genes into bacteria to produce human insulin
● Inserting genes into crop plants to confer resistance to herbicides
● Inserting genes into crop plants to confer resistance to insect pests
● Inserting genes into crop plants to provide additional vitamins

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Outline genetic engineering using bacterial production of a human protein as an example, limited
to…
● Identify and isolate the target human DNA.
● Cut the human DNA using restriction enzymes, forming complementary sticky ends.
● Cut the bacterial plasmid DNA with the same restriction enzymes.
● Insert human DNA into bacterial plasmid using ligase (they join pieces of DNA together at
specific sites) to form a recombinant plasmid.
● Insert the plasmid into bacteria.
● Bacteria with the plasmid will replicate and reproduce

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of genetically modifying crops, such as soya, maize and
rice
● Advantages
○ Resistance of drought/disease/
○ Increased/faster yield of crop
○ Reduce labour cost
● Disadvantages
○ Herbicide resistance gene may spread, producing “superweed” that cannot be killed
by herbicide
○ Can contain pesticide residues or substances that causes allergies (allergens).

Chapter 21: Human influences on the ecosystem

State how modern technology has resulted in increased food production in terms of:
● Agricultural machinery
○ Used to clear the land, prepare the soil and plant, maintain and harvest crops to
improve efficiency.
● Chemical fertilisers
○ Used to provide minerals to increase the yield of crops.
● Pesticide
○ Chemicals that destroys agricultural pests or competitors:
● Herbicides
○ Chemicals that kills plants that compete with the crop plant for root space, soil
minerals and sunlight.
● Insecticides are chemicals that destroy the insects that eat the damage the plants.

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 ○ Selective breeding to improve production by crop plants and livestock, eg. cattle, fish
and poultry.
Describe the negative impacts to an ecosystem of large-scale monocultures of crop plants
● Monoculture: when a crop of a single species is grown on the same land, year after year.
● In a monoculture, every attempt is made to destroy organisms that feed on, compete with or
infect the crop plant.
● So, the balanced life of a natural plant and animal community is displaced from farmland and
left to survive only in small areas of woodland, health or hedgerow.
Describe the negative impacts to an ecosystem of intensive livestock production
● Their urine and faeces are washed out of the sheds with water forming ‘slurry’. If this slurry
gets into streams and rivers it supplies an excess of nitrates and phosphates for the
microscopic algae.
○ This starts a chain of events, which can lead to eutrophication of the water system.
● Overgrazing can result if too many animals are kept in a pasture.
● They eat the grass down almost to the roots, and their hooves trample the surface soil into a
hard layer.
○ As a result, the rainwater will not penetrate the soil so it runs off the surface, carrying
the soil with it. The soil hence becomes eroded.

Discuss the social, environmental and economic implications of providing sufficient food for an
increasing human global population
● There is not always enough food available in a country to feed the people living there.
● A severe food shortage can lead to famine.
● The redistribution of food from first world countries to a poorer one can have a detrimental
effect on that country’s local economy by reducing the value of food grown by local farmers.
● Some food grown by countries with large debts may be exported as cash crops, even though
the local people desperately need the food.
Discuss the problems which contribute to famine including unequal distribution of food, drought and
flooding, increasing population and poverty
● Climate change and natural disasters such as flooding or drought; waterlogged soil can
become infertile due to the activities of denitrifying bacteria, which break down nitrates.
● Shortage of water through its use for other purposes, the diversion of rivers, building dams to
provide hydroelectricity.
● Desertification due to soil erosion as a result of deforestation.
● An increasing population leading to higher demand of food

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21.2 Habitat destruction
Describe the reasons for habitat destruction, limited to
● Increased area for food crop growth, livestock production and housing
○ Intensive agriculture has destroyed many of these habitats.
○ The development of towns and cities (urbanisation) makes a great demand on land,
destroying natural habitats.
● Extraction of natural resources
○ An increasing population and greater demands on modern technology means more
raw materials for the manufacturing and energy are needed.
○ Mining for fossil fuels and raw materials (gold, iron etc.) can permanently damage
habitats
○ Oil spillages around oil wells are extremely toxic.
● Marine pollution
○ This includes untreated sewage, agricultural fertilisers, pesticides and oil spills
○ Plastics are non-biodegradable so they persist in the environment.
○ Others forms of inedible micro-particles are mistaken by marine organisms for food
and are indigestible. They stay in the stomach, causing sickness, or prevent the gills
from working efficiently.
○ Where fertilisers and sewage enter the marine environment, ‘dead zones’ develop
where there is insufficient oxygen to sustain life.

List and explain the undesirable effects of deforestation as an example of habitat destruction, to
include extinction, loss of soil, flooding and increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
● Animals living in the forest lose their homes and sources of food; species of plant become
extinct as the land is used for human purposes (e.g. urbanization, farming)
● Soil erosion is more likely to happen as there are no roots to hold the soil in place.
● Flooding becomes more frequent as there is no soil to absorb and hold rainwater.
● Carbon dioxide builds up in the atmosphere as there are fewer trees to photosynthesis,
increasing global warming.
State that through altering food webs and food chains, humans can have a negative impact on
habitats

21.3 Pollution

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State the sources and effects of pollution of land and water, e.g. rivers, lakes and the sea, by
insecticides, herbicides and by nuclear fall-out
● Such pollutants remains in the environment after it has been sprayed and can be absorbed by
microscopic organisms. This enters food chains and accumulate as it moves up them.
● Persist for a long time in the soil, rivers, lakes and bodies of animals, including animals.
State the sources and effects of pollution of water (rivers, lakes and the sea) by chemical waste,
discarded rubbish, untreated sewage and fertilisers
● Chemical waste
○ Electroplating produces waste containing copper and cyanide.
■ These chemicals are released into rivers they poison the animals and plants
and could poison humans who drink the water.
○ Some detergents contain a lot of phosphate. This is not removed by sewage treatment
and is discharged into rivers.
■ The large amount of phosphate encourages growth of microscopic plants
(algae).
● Discarded rubbish
○ Discarded rubbish in the sea can remain for long periods of time as most are
non-biodegradable.
○ Animals can mistaken these for food, or they can be caught within animals, such as in
their mouths so they cannot eat
● Sewage
○ Diseases like typhoid and cholera are caused by certain bacteria when they get into
the human intestine. The faeces passed by people suffering from these diseases will
contain the harmful bacteria.
○ If sewages are emptied in waters, the bacteria may get into drinking water and the
disease may spread to many other people
● Fertilisers
○ When nitrates and phosphates from farmland and sewage escape into water they
cause excessive growth of microscopic green plants.
○ This may cause a serious oxygen shortage in the water, resulting in the death of
aquatic animals – a process called eutrophication.
Explain the process of eutrophication of water
● Fertilizers are washed by rainwater to water bodies from land
● This leaching causes an increase in the levels of minerals (e.g. nitrate, phosphate) in the water,
a process called eutrophication.

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 ● Eutrophication encourages the growth of algae. These form a green bloom over the water
surface, preventing sunlight reaching other water plants.
● These plants die because they are unable to carry out photosynthesis.
● Bacteria decompose the dead plants, respiring and using up the oxygen in the water as they do
this.
● The low oxygen levels make it difficult for aquatic insects and fish to live

State the sources and effects of pollution of the air by methane and carbon dioxide, limited to the
enhanced greenhouse effect and climate change
● Carbon dioxide is produced by burning of fossil fuels.
● Methane is produced from the decay of organic matter and as a waste gas from cattle.
● Carbon dioxide and methane are greenhouse gases, trapping the heat in the earth’s atmosphere
● Increase of these gases increases this greenhouse effect, causing global warming and climate
change.

Explain how increases in carbon dioxide and methane concentrations in the atmosphere cause an
enhanced greenhouse effect that leads to climate change
● This extra heat from increase greenhouse gases is causing global warming as well as affecting
the Earth’s weather patterns.

Discuss the causes and effects on the environment of acid rain, and state the measures that are taken
to reduce sulfur dioxide pollution and reduce the impact of acid rain

Describe the negative impacts of female contraceptive hormones in water courses, limited to reduced
sperm count in men and feminisation of aquatic organisms
● Hormones in the contraceptive pill (oestrogen or progesterone) are excreted in urine and
become present in sewage, ending up in water systems such as rivers, lakes and the sea.

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 ● Male frogs and fish can become ‘feminised’ (they can start producing eggs in their testes
instead of sperm), causing an imbalance between numbers of male and female animals.
● Drinking water extracted from these rivers can also contain the hormones, which has been
shown to reduce the sperm count in men, causing a reduction in fertility

21.4 Conservation
Define a sustainable resource as…
● One which is produced as rapidly as it is removed from the environment so that it does not
run out
Define the term sustainable development as…
● Development providing for the needs of an increasing human population without harming the
environment
Explain the need to conserve non-renewable resources, limited to fossil fuels
● This is because the stocks of such non-renewable resources on the planet are finite.
Explain how forests and fish stocks can be sustained using education, legal quotas and re-stocking
● Education
○ Once local communities they understand its importance, the environment they live in
is more likely to be cared for and the species in it protected.
● Legal quotas
○ Setting quotas for each species of fish taken commercially and also for the size of fish
to allow fish to reach breeding age and maintain or increase their populations.
● Restocking
○ Where populations of a fish species are in decline, their numbers may be conserved
by a restocking programme. This involves breeding fish in captivity, then releasing
them into the wild.
State that products can be reused or recycled, limited to paper, glass, plastic and metal

Explain that sustainable development requires management of conflicting demands and planning and
co-operation at local, national and international levels
● Management of conflicting demands.
○ As the world’s population grows, so does the demand for the extraction of resources
from the environment. However, this needs to be carried out in a controlled way to
prevent environmental damage and strategies need to be put in place to ensure
habitats and species diversity are not threatened.
● Planning the removal of resources

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 ○ This is to make sure that everyone involved with the process is aware of the potential
consequences of the process on the environment, and that appropriate strategies are
put in place, and adhered to, to minimise any risk.

Outline how sewage is treated to make the water that it contains safe to return to the environment or
for human use
● Sewage contains bacteria from the human intestine that can be harmful. These bacteria must
be destroyed in order to prevent the spread of intestinal diseases.
● Sewage also contain substances such as soap and detergent from household wastes and
chemicals from factories. These too must be removed before the sewage effluent is released
into the rivers.
● Inland towns have to make their sewage harmless in a sewage treatment plant before
discharging the effluent into rivers. A sewage works removes solid and liquid waste from the
sewage, so that the water leaving the works is safe to drink. In a large town, the main method
of sewage treatment is by the activated sludge process.

Explain why organisms become endangered or extinct, limited to climate change, habitat destruction,
hunting, pollution and introduced species
● Climate change
○ This is a natural, uncontrollable process, but processes like global warming are made
worse by human activity.
● Habitat destruction
○ Can be caused by a number of things – pollution biggest factor, fishing activity and
dredging ships.
○ Lead to destruction of habitats leaving species homeless.
● Hunting
○ Extreme hunting species of animals can cause extinction.
● Pollution
○ Global warming caused by pollution leading to rapid changes in climate in certain.
○ As a result the conditions will change, causing the environment to change and the
species being no longer suited to it and struggle to survive. Eg polar bear – arctic ice
melting – cannot swim very well
● Introduced species
○ Some species of animal are not introduced deliberately into different ecosystem, but
find they way in due to man’s activities and then upset food chains.

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Explain the risks to a species if the population size drops, reducing variation
● If the population of a species drop, the range of variation within the species drops, making it
less able to adapt to environmental change. The species could, therefore, be threatened with
extinction.
● When animal populations fall, there is less chance of individuals finding each other to mate.

Describe how endangered species can be conserved, limited to monitoring and protecting species and
habitats, education, captive breeding programmes and seed banks
● Monitoring and protecting species and habitats.
● Habitats conservation
○ Using laws to protect the habitat.
○ Using wardens to protect the habitat.
○ Reducing or controlling public access to the habitat.
○ Controlling factors, such as water drainage and grazing, that may otherwise contribute
to destruction of the habitat.
● Captive breeding and reintroductions
○ Possible to boost a species numbers by breeding in captivity and releasing the animals
back into the environment.
● Seed banks
○ Way of protecting plant species from extinction. They include seed from food crops
and rare species. They act as gene banks.

Explain reasons for conservation programmes, to include reducing extinction, protecting vulnerable
environments and maintaining ecosystem functions, limited to nutrient cycling and resource
provision, e.g. food, drugs, fuel and genes.
● Reducing extinction
○ Once a species become extinct its genes are lost forever. So it is likely that the world
would be deprived the world of genetic resources. Valuable products such as drugs
could be deprived
● Protecting vulnerable environments
○ Conservation programmes are often set up to protect threatened habitats so that rare
species living there are not endangered.
● Maintaining ecosystem functions
○ There is a danger of destabilising food chains of a single species in that food chain is
removed. Crops are grown for food, extraction of drugs and the manufacture of fuel.

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