Formative assessment -4

DP Biology - theme form and Function

B4.1& B4.2- Adaptation to the environment and Ecological Niche

Name …………………………………………… Date ………………………..

1. Scientists studying ground finches (Geospiza fortis) on the island of Daphne

Major in Galapagos found great differences in the shapes of the beaks

What is the explanation for this variation in beak shape between the birds?

A. Ground finches grow larger beaks if there is competition for food.

B. They belong to different species.

C. They are adapted for different diets.

D. The more a beak is used by a ground finch, the larger it becomes.

[Link] green lizards, Lacerta trilineata, living in mainland Greece eat

mostly insects but also small amounts of plants. The same species living on
Greek islands (where insects are scarce) show a greater percentage of those
physical traits useful for eating plants than the mainland lizards.

What is the biological explanation for these observations?

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 A. Variation in each lizard population allowed adaptation to occur.

B. Lizards migrated to areas where they were better adapted.

C. Lizards on the islands diverged due to lack of interbreeding with the

mainland

population.

D. Homologous structures have prevented separate species from evolving.

[Link] is the reason for antibiotics not damaging human cells?

A. The dose is too small to be harmful.

B. The dose is taken for only a short time.

C. Antibiotics occur naturally in humans.

D. Human metabolism is different from bacterial metabolism.

4. By the end of the 19th century in England, the dark form of the moth
Biston

betularia formed up to 98% of the total population in industrial areas.

From

1970, the percentage of dark forms decreased significantly. What is an

explanation for the decrease?

A. An increase in environmental pollution killed the dark forms more than

the
light forms.
B. Reduction of pollution resulted in greater camouflage for light forms of
the
moth.

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 C. Dark forms could no longer find mates.

D. Light forms had superior feeding mechanisms.

5. Three-spined stickleback fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus) vary in the number

of armour plates. The graph shows the frequency of individuals with low,
partial or complete plating in a three-spined stickleback population living in
Kennedy Lake, Vancouver Island, Canada.

Which type of natural selection could result in this pattern of variation in the
population?

A. Disruptive

B. Directional

C. Stabilizing

D. Convergent

6. The graph shows the proportion of a bacterial population of Neisseria

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 gonorrhoeae, displaying resistance to the antibiotic tetracycline.

What can be deduced from this graph?

A. Bacteria with beneficial adaptations survive and pass on their genes.

B. Immunity to tetracycline is triggered by over-use of the antibiotic.

C. Genetic variation in this bacterial population is increasing.

D. Use of tetracycline inhibits the growth of antibiotic-resistant N.

gonorrhoeae.

7. Which organism can best be described as a saprotroph?

A. A fungus that digests its food externally and absorbs the products of
digestion

B. A beetle that feeds by ingesting the dung of other animal species and
digesting

its food internally

C. A single-celled eukaryote that is able to photosynthesize and consumes

smaller organisms by endocytosis
D. A giraffe that feeds by ingesting leaves from an acacia tree

8. Which is not essential in a viable mesocosm?

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 A. Light source

B. Autotroph

C. Saprotroph

D. Herbivore

9. The Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) is a photosynthetic plant. It obtains

nitrogen but not energy by digesting captured insects.

Which term describes this plant?

A. Secondary consumer

B. Autotroph

C. Primary consumer

D. Saprotroph

10. Which row of the table describes a type of nutrition?

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11. The pie chart shows the modes of nutrition of fungi in Huahu Lake
wetland in

China.

What is the most common mode of nutrition of fungi in this wetland?

A. Heterotrophic fungi that feed on living organisms by ingestion

B. Autotrophic fungi that obtain organic nutrients from detritus by internal

digestion

C. Fungi that have either an autotrophic or heterotrophic method of

nutrition

D. Heterotrophic fungi obtaining nutrients from dead organisms by

external

digestion

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12. Which conditions of temperature and pH are most suitable for coral reef
development?

[Link] worm Branchiobdella italica lives on the external surface of the

freshwater

crayfish Austropotamobius pallipes. A study was carried out in a river in

central

Liguria, north-western Italy, of the range of sizes of B. italica found on

adult A.

pallipes.

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 a. Describe the body length frequency of the B. italica worms collected
in this study.
[1]

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b. The relationship between A. pallipes and B. italica is mutualistic.

A. pallipes feeds on algae and another worm, B. exodonta, lives inside A.

pallipes as

a parasite. State the trophic level of B. exodonta in this food chain.

[1]

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c. Distinguish between mutualism and parasitism, provide example of

mutualism and parasitism.

[2]

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[Link] the role of fungi in nutrient cycling.

[1]

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15. Most reef-building corals contain photosynthetic algae, called

Zooxanthellae, that

live in their cells. Coral bleaching can occur as a result of human-

induced changes

leading to the Zooxanthellae being ejected from the coral.

a. State the type of interaction that occurs between Zooxanthellae and

reef-building

corals.
[1]

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b. State the trophic level of Zooxanthellae.

[1]

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c. When coral is bleached, certain organisms become more common in the

ecosystem

such as the cnidarian Gorgonia, the echinoderm Diadema, other algae

and certain

sponges. State the term that is used for organisms whose presence
provides evidence

of the existence of a particular environmental condition.

[1]

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d. A coat of algae builds up on coral reefs as a consequence of

eutrophication. Explain

the relationship between eutrophication and algal growth.

[2]

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e. Explain how an excessive growth of algae on coral reefs can be controlled

by top-

down factors.
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