B1 Environment Adaptation Competition Higher

Q1. (a) What is meant by natural selection?

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Giraffes feed on the leaves of trees and other plants in areas of Africa.

Darwin explained the evolution of the long neck in terms of getting leaves from the tall trees.

Recently, scientists have tried to explain how the long neck of the giraffe might have evolved.

These are some of the scientists’ observations.

• Giraffes spend almost all the dry season, when there is not much food, feeding from low bushes.

• Only in the wet season do they feed from tall trees when there are plenty of new leaves.

• Females spend over 50 % of their time feeding with their necks horizontal.

• Both sexes feed faster and most often with their necks bent.

• Long giraffe necks are very important in male-to-male combat. Males fight each other with their long, powerful necks.

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(b) Do the observations support or reject the explanation that the long neck of the giraffe evolved to get leaves from tall trees?

Draw a ring around your answer. Support / Reject

Explain the reason for your answer.

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(c) Use the scientists’ recent observations to give another explanation for the evolution of the long neck of the male giraffe.

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(Total 7 marks)

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Q2. The photograph shows a sand gazelle.

The sand gazelle lives in the Arabian Desert where temperatures often reach 45 °C.

(a) The sand gazelle feeds only at dawn and at dusk. At other times it stays in the shade.

Suggest how this helps the animal to conserve water.

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(b) During the dry season, the sand gazelle’s liver and heart shrink in size. This reduces the amount of oxygen that the body needs.

Suggest how needing less oxygen helps the animal to conserve water.

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(Total 4 marks)

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Q3. The diagram shows the desert plant, Fredolia.

Describe and explain three adaptations of Fredolia, which you can see in the diagram, that help it to survive in dry conditions.

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Q4. Plant plankton are aquatic microscopic organisms that photosynthesise. The graph shows the numbers of plant plankton in the North Sea at different times of the year.

Use the data and your knowledge of photosynthesis and growth to explain:

(a) why numbers of plant plankton were low in winter but increased rapidly during the spring,

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(b) the reduction in numbers of plant plankton in the early summer.

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(Total 4 marks)

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Q5. Woodlice are small animals that prefer to live in cool, damp places.

Woodlice feed on decaying plant material.

It is very difficult to count all the woodlice in an area. One way of estimating the population is described below.

1. Catch all the woodlice you can in the area (first capture). 2. Count them. 3. Put a small spot of white paint on the back of each woodlouse. 4. Release them all back into the area. 5. A few days later collect all the woodlice you can from the same area (second

capture). Count how many there are, and how many of them have a spot of white paint on the back.

The table shows the results for 1m2 sections of three areas, A, B, and C.

Area A Area B Area C

Number in first capture 10 60 30

Number in second capture 5 50 35

Number with white spots in second capture 4 25

Estimated number in the population 13 100 42

(a) Suggest why you have to estimate the population of woodlice.

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(b) Use the data in the table, and the equation below, to calculate the number of woodlice with white spots in the second capture for area B.

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(c) The three areas sampled are described below.

Description 1 A shady area with a dead tree lying across it. Description 2 A shady area on an old path covered with broken tiles. Description 3 A sunny area on a patio with some pot plants on it.

Match each area, A, B and C, with the descriptions. Give a reason for each choice.

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(d) Suggest one reason why the recapture numbers of woodlice with white spots might be low.

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(Total 7 marks)

Q6. (a) Explain, as fully as you can, how natural selection leads to evolution.

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(b) Most penguins live in cold climates. The modern penguin best adapted for cold conditions is the emperor penguin.

Scientists have found fossils of a ‘giant’ penguin which they have called Icadyptes.

The diagram shows how the size of modern penguins compares with Icadyptes.

The scientists were surprised to discover that Icadyptes lived in warm seas at a time when the Earth’s climate was much warmer than it is now.

Explain why the scientists were surprised that Icadyptes lived in warm seas.

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(Total 5 marks)

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Q7. The drawings show two different species of butterfly.

• Both species can be eaten by most birds.

• Amauris has a foul taste which birds do not like, so birds have learned not to prey on it.

• Hypolimnas does not have a foul taste but most birds do not prey on it.

(a) Suggest why most birds do not prey on Hypolimnas.

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(b) Suggest an explanation, in terms of natural selection, for the markings on the wings of Hypolimnas.

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(Total 5 marks)

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Q8. Earthworms are important soil organisms. When they burrow, they help to bring air into the soil as well as improving drainage. Earthworms also bury leaves in the soil. These decay making the soil more fertile. Earthworms in turn are eaten by voles, moles, foxes, badgers and birds.

In some parts of the United Kingdom, earthworms are being killed by New Zealand flatworms. The animals are spreading quickly and have no natural enemies.

The flatworms do not make their own burrows. They only use the burrows made by the earthworms in order to attack them.

(a) Explain, as fully as you can, why it is important to control or get rid of these New Zealand flatworms in Britain.

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New Zealand flatworm

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(b) Suggest one possible way, giving one advantage and one disadvantage, that this New Zealand flatworm could be controlled.

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(Total 7 marks)

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B1 Environment Adaptation Competition Higher

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