THE ECOSPHERE PROJECT SCHEME

FINAL YEAR IGCSE PROJECT (BIOLOGY)

CHAPTER 19 : ORGANISMS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Sub Topic Criteria Group
Energy Flow, a) Explain the role of the sun in biological system. 1
Food chain and
food webs b) Construct a food web and define

i) food chain
ii) food web
iii) trophic levels.

c) From the food web, identify and define

i) producer
ii) consumer (primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary)
iii) herbivore
iv) carnivore
v) decomposer

Food chain and d) construct a food web and discuss the following; 2
food webs
i) state and describe how energy is transferred between organisms in a food
chain (trophic levels) by ingestion
ii) explain why the transfer of energy from one trophic level to another is
inefficient
iii) explain why food chains usually have fewer than five trophic levels

e) 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.

f) use food chains and food webs to describe the impacts humans have through over
harvesting of food species and through introducing foreign species to a habitat

Food chain and g) Use food chains and food webs to describe the impacts humans have through over- 3
food webs harvesting of food species and through introducing foreign species to a habitat

h) Draw, describe and interpret pyramids of Numbers

i) Draw, describe and interpret pyramids of biomass

j) Discuss the advantages of using a pyramid of biomass rather than a pyramid of

numbers to represent a food chain
Dynamic 4
ecosystem 5
a) Investigate the interaction between biotic components as follows:

i) Predator - prey
ii) symbiosis among plants and animals encompassing the following:
commensalism, parasitism, mutualism, saprophytism
iii) explain the significance of existence of saprophytes in an ecosystem

b) Investigate the interaction between biotic components in relation to competition,

which are:

i) intraspecific competition,
ii) interspecific competition.

c) Conduct an experiment to study the intraspecific competition and interspecific

competition of plants, e.g. maize and rice. (exp 8.3)

- what resources do the seeding in trays compete for?

- what other parameters can be used to chart the growth of the plants.
- what is the difference between the intraspecific and interspecific competition.

Microorganism 6
a) Explain the meaning of pathogen

b) Identify the pathogen, vector, and symptoms of one particular disease.

- Malaria
- Dengue fever
- Cholera
- Ringworm
- Measles
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c) Explain how the disease spreads

d) Describe the methods of controlling pathogens.

e) Identify the pathogen, vector, and symptoms of one particular disease.

- Diphtheria
- AIDS
- Hepatitis
- SARS
- H5N1

f) explain how the disease spreads

g) Describe the methods of controlling pathogens.

Succession and a) Make a report of field study at the mangrove swamp 8
colonization
i) what types of trees are found at the mangrove swamp? Name the trees. 9
ii) what types of soil are found in a mangrove swamp. what is the problem faced
by mangrove plants living in this habitat? how is the problem overcome?
iii) why do mangrove trees need aerial roots?
iv) Make a rough sketch of the various root systems that you see.
v) How do mangrove trees adapt to living in sea water.
vi) Look closely at the mangrove leaves. touch both surfaces. what are the
differences between these leaves and the leaves in your school compound
vii) look at the seed s and fruits carefully. how do mangrove reproduce
viii) not all the seeds will germinate and grow into trees. why?
ix) Look at the organism that live around the root system. construct a food chain
containing four organism.
x) Draw a profile succession of the mangrove swamp and label each level of
succession.

b) make a model to show the process of succession in a pond.

i) name the pioneer species in this ecosystem

ii) what are the changes caused by the pioneer species in the habitat.
iii) How do the floating plants lead to death of the submerged plants?
iv) what happens to the pond after a long period of time.
v) human activities such as deforestation may affect the process of succession in
the pond. explain why?

Population size 10
growth curve a) Define the followings; 11

- Population
- Community
- ecosystem

b) Identify and state the factors affecting the rate of population growth for a
population of an organism, limited to food supply, predation and disease

c) Discuss the increase in human population size over the past 250 years and its social
and environmental implications

d) Interpret graphs and diagrams of human population growth

e) Identify and explain the lag, exponential (log), stationary and death phases in the
sigmoid population growth curve.

f) Explain the factors that lead to each phase in the sigmoid curve of population
growth, making reference, where appropriate, to the role of limiting factors.
Population 12
ecology a) Identify the abiotic and biotic components of an ecosystem. 13

b) List and explain how the abiotic components affect the population or distribution
of certain organism in the ecosystem.

c) studying the relationship of population distribution of an organism with the

changes of an abiotic factor. (exp page 114 : practical book biology form 4)
discuss the effect of :

- change in temperature and ph on the distribution of the organism

- change in the light intensity on the distribution of the organism
- change in the concentration of nutrients on the distribution of organism
- change in the concentration of dissolved oxygen on the distribution of the
organism .
- change in the humidity and aspect on the distribution of the organism.

d) Estimating the population size of garden snail using capture, mark, release and
recapture technique. (exp page 113: practical book biology form 4) or replace it
with a model.

e) Estimating the population size of Mimosa pudica in school field using quadrat
sampling technique.

Nutrient cycle a) Describe the carbon cycle 14

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b) What is carbon natural? 16

c) Discuss the effect of the combustion of fossil fuels and the cutting down of forests
on the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere
d) Describe the water cycle, limited to evaporation, transpiration, condensation and
precipitation

e) Describe the nitrogen cycle in terms of:

– decomposition of plant and animal protein to ammonium ions

– nitrification
– nitrogen fixation by lightning and bacteria
– absorption of nitrate ions by plants
– production of amino acids and proteins
– feeding and digestion of proteins
– deamination
– denitrification

f) State the roles of microorganisms in the nitrogen cycle, limited to decomposition,

nitrification, nitrogen fixation and denitrification (generic names of individual
bacteria, e.g. Rhizobium , are not required)
CHAPTER 21 : HUMAN INFLUENCES ON ECOSYSTEM
Sub Topic Topics Group
Food supply 17
a) Discuss the problems which contribute to famine including unequal distribution of
food, drought and flooding, increasing population and poverty.
b) State how modern technology has resulted in increased food production in term
of
1) agricultural machinery
2) chemicals fertilisers
3) insecticide
4) herbicides 18
5) selective breeding

c) What is monoculture?
d) Discuss the social, environmental and economic implication of large scale
monoculture.
e) What is intensive livestock production?
f) Discuss the social, environmental and economic implication of intensive livestock
production

Habitat 19
destruction a) Describe the reasons for habitat destruction limited to:
- increased area for food crop growth, livestock production and housing
- extraction of natural resources
- marine pollution

b) 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

c) Case study:
- The flooding of the river Indus in Pakistan in 2010
- Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China.

Water pollution 20
a) State the sources and effects of pollution of land and water, e.g. rivers, lakes and 21
the sea, by insecticides, herbicides and by nuclear fall-out

b) State the sources and effects of pollution of water (rivers, lakes and the sea) by
chemical waste, discarded rubbish, untreated sewage and fertilisers

c) Describe the negative impacts of female contraceptive hormones in water courses,

limited to reduced sperm count in men and feminisation of aquatic organisms

d) Explain the process of eutrophication of water in terms of:

– increased availability of nitrate and other ions

– increased growth of producers
– increased decomposition after death of producers
– increased aerobic respiration by decomposers
– reduction in dissolved oxygen
– death of organisms requiring dissolved oxygen in water

e) Discuss the effects of non-biodegradable plastics in the environment, in both

 aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems
Air pollution 22
a) State the sources and discuss the effect of pollution of the air by methane and
carbon dioxide limited to greenhouse effect and climate change.

b) Discuss the causes and effects on the environment of acid rain.

c) State the measures that are taken to reduce sulphur dioxide pollution and reduce
the impact of acid rain.

d) Explain how increases in carbon dioxide and methane concentration in the

atmosphere cause an enhanced greenhouse effect that lead to climate change.

Conservation 23
a) Define a sustainable resource 24

b) Explain the need to conserve non-renewable resources (fossil fuels)

c) Explain how forest and fish stocks can be sustained using education, legal quotas
and re-stocking.
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d) Find question in bioluv related to the sub topic and explain the answer.

e) Define the term sustainable development.

f) Discuss on Tomato fish project and explain that sustainable development

requires :
- management of conflicting demand
- planning and co-operation at local national and international level

g) Find question in bioluv related to the sub topic and explain the answer.

h) Discuss and Explain the practice of recycling in Malaysia.

- In discussion please include the importance of recycling program.

- discuss on the advantages and disadvantages of no plastic campaign.

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i) Outline how sewage is treated to make the water that it contains safe to return
the environment or for human use. (full view and explaination of water treatment
plant)

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j) Explain why organisms become endangered or extinct, limited to climate change,
habitat destruction, hunting, pollution and introduced species

k) Describe how endangered species can be conserved, limited to monitoring and

protecting species and habitats, education, captive breeding programmes and
seed banks

l) Explain the risks to a species if the population size drops, reducing variation
(knowledge of genetic drift is not required)

m) Explain reasons for conservation programmes, to include:

- reducing extinction
- protecting vulnerable environments
- maintaining ecosystem functions, limited to nutrient cycling and resource
provision, e.g. food, drugs, fuel and genes