Surname

Centre
No.

Initial(s)

Paper Reference

6 1 3 6

Candidate
No.

0 1

Signature

Paper Reference(s)

6136/01

Examiners use only

Edexcel GCE

Team Leaders use only

Biology (Salters-Nuffield)
Advanced

Question Leave
Number Blank

Unit Test 6 Synoptic Paper

Wednesday 17 June 2009 Afternoon

2
3

Time: 2 hours
Materials required for examination
Nil

4
Items included with question papers
A copy of the scientific article taken
from The Earth Only Endures
by Jules Pretty
Data booklet for Question 2

Instructions to Candidates
In the boxes above, write your centre number, candidate number, your surname, initial(s) and signature.
The paper reference is shown above. Check that you have the correct question paper.
Answer THREE questions. You must answer Questions 1 and 2, and then EITHER Question 3 OR
Question 4. You should allow about 45 minutes for answering Question 3 or 4 including planning
time.
Indicate which question you are answering by marking the box with a cross ( ). If you change your
mind, put a line through the box ( ) and then indicate your new question with a cross ( ).
Write your answers in the spaces provided in this question paper.

Information for Candidates

The marks for individual questions and the parts of questions are shown in round brackets: e.g. (2).
The total mark for this paper is 60.
There are 20 pages in this question paper. Any blank pages are indicated.

Advice to Candidates
You will be assessed on your ability to organise and present information, ideas, descriptions and
arguments clearly and logically, including your use of grammar, punctuation and spelling.

Total
This publication may be reproduced only in accordance with
Edexcel Limited copyright policy.
2009 Edexcel Limited.
Printers Log. No.

N34140A
W850/R6136/57570 5/5/2/2/

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Answer BOTH questions 1 and 2

1.

The scientific article you have studied is an extract from a book called The Earth Only
Endures by Jules Pretty.
Use the information from the article, and your own knowledge, to answer the following
questions.
(a) Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace are said to have turned the world upside
down. Explain why their ideas were so revolutionary at the time.
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(b) The 17 CREB genes are part of the mechanism of learning and memory.
Explain how CREB genes demonstrate the influence of nature and nurture in the
formation of long-term memories.
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(4)
(c) Suggest and explain two ways in which humans could be bringing about their own
extinction.
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(d) Stephen Mobleys lawyers argued that he committed murder because his genes made
him do it. Suggest, with reasons, whether you agree that this was an acceptable
defence.
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(2)
(e) Explain why rats groomed by their mothers suffer less from the effects of stress later
in life.
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(f) Given the same access to food, some people will put on more weight than others.
Explain how twin studies can provide evidence for the influence of genes on body
mass.
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(g) Describe how genes can interact to produce a characteristic.
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2.

Read and use the data in the data booklet provided and your own knowledge, to answer
the following questions.
(a) Edmondstons Chickweed (Figure 3) is a plant that grows on the Keen of Hamar, a hill
on the island of Unst (Figure 2). Unst is the most northerly of the Shetland Islands
(Figure 1).
It is thought that Edmondstons Chickweed evolved from Arctic Chickweed
(Figure 4) since the last Ice Age. The nearest colony of Arctic Chickweed is on the
Faeroe Islands (Figure 1), 250 miles to the north west of Unst.
(i) Suggest how Edmondstons Chickweed has evolved from Arctic Chickweed.
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(ii) The ground on the Keen of Hamar remains relatively bare.
This is because an ecological process, which usually takes place on bare ground,
has not taken place.
Name this ecological process.
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(1)
(iii) The ground has remained relatively bare since the Ice Age.
Suggest how this may have enabled Edmondstons Chickweed to survive.
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(iv) Edmondstons Chickweed exists as one small population on Unst.

Suggest how a small population limits a species ability to adapt to environmental
change.
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(b) Some seeds from Edmondstons Chickweed were planted in soil from the Keen of
Hamar and some were planted in normal soil.
The seeds were left to grow into plants in a controlled environment. The characteristics
of the plants were recorded. The results are shown in the table below.
Type of soil

Characteristic of leaf

Characteristic of stem

Keen of Hamar

Round, purple, hairy

Short with leaves close together

Normal

Round, purple, hairy

Long with leaves far apart

With reference to Figure 3, suggest an explanation for the results in the table above.
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(c) Discuss the extent to which the data in Figures 5, 6 and 7 provide evidence that
Edmondstons Chickweed plants are affected by climate change.
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(d) The permanently-marked quadrat mentioned in the caption of Figure 6, is marked
by metal pegs driven into the underlying rock.
Suggest why such a type of quadrat is more suitable than non-permanent, randomly
placed ones.
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(e) Edmondstons Chickweed is adapted to living in low environmental temperatures.

When the environmental temperature increases, the gross primary productivity of
Edmondstons Chickweed increases but its net primary productivity decreases.
Give an explanation for these effects on primary productivity.
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Answer ONE of the following essay questions.

You should choose EITHER Question 3 OR Question 4.
You are expected to answer in continuous prose. You should use examples from the biology
course you have studied but need not restrict yourself to the course content.
You are advised to spend approximately 45 minutes answering Question 3 or Question 4,
including planning time.
Marks will be awarded in the following areas:
Breadth: selecting a range of aspects of biology from different parts of your AS and A2
course which are relevant to the question.
(up to 6 marks)
Depth: developing the aspects you have chosen by including relevant details, examples
and discussion.
(up to 8 marks)
Balance: have you answered the question asked? for example, by dealing with the bigger
ideas which lie beneath the wording of the question, such as discussing implications,
weighing up benefits and risks, advantages and disadvantages or the extent to which an
assertion in the question is or is not valid.
(up to 6 marks)
Style: coherence, clarity and expression; for example, good use of technical terms,
sentences and paragraphs, and weaving together information and ideas clearly to focus on
the question.
(up to 4 marks)
3.

While our biological understanding and medical technology may have advanced
considerably over the last 200 years, the art of balancing bodily fluids has been practised
for centuries.
Blood The fluid of life: Write an essay about the importance of blood and circulatory
systems.
(Total 20 marks)
OR

4.

In the absence of enzymes, chemical reactions in organisms would be too slow to sustain
life.
Enzymes The miracle molecules: Write an essay about the structure and functions of
enzymes.
(Total 20 marks)

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Indicate which question you are answering by marking the box ( ). If you change your
mind about which question to answer, put a line through the box ( ) and then indicate
your new question with a cross ( ).
Chosen question number:

Question 3

Question 4

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TOTAL FOR PAPER: 60 MARKS
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