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Paper Reference(s)

6134/01 Examiner’s use only

Edexcel GCE Team Leader’s use only

Biology (Salters-Nuffield)
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Unit Test 4
1
Friday 12 June 2009 – Afternoon 2
Time: 1 hour 15 minutes 3
4
5
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Instructions to Candidates
In the boxes above, write your centre number, candidate number, your surname, initial(s) and
signature.
Check that you have the correct question paper.
Answer ALL questions. Write your answers in the spaces provided in this question paper.
If you need to use additional answer sheets, attach them loosely but securely inside this booklet.
Show all the steps in any calculations and state the units. Calculators may be used.
Include diagrams in your answers where these are helpful.

Information for Candidates

The marks for individual questions and parts of questions are shown in round brackets: e.g. (2).
There are 6 questions in this question paper. The total mark for this paper is 60.
There are 16 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, taking into account your use of grammar, punctuation and spelling.

Total
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Answer ALL questions in the spaces provided

1. Explain what is meant by each of the following terms.

(a) Speciation

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(2)

(b) Phagocytosis

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(2)

(c) Abiotic factor

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(2) Q1

(Total 6 marks)

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2. Harlequin ladybirds were not found in the UK before 2004. Since their arrival from
mainland Europe they have become established and their distribution now includes most
of the south of England. Their position in a food web is shown in the diagram below.

Native ladybird Harlequin

species ladybirds

Moth larvae

Butterfly
larvae
Aphids

Producers

(a) It is possible that harlequin ladybirds are causing native species to become less
abundant. Use the information in the diagram to suggest explanations for this.

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(2)

(b) Explain how harlequin ladybirds might reduce biodiversity.

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(3)

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(c) An investigation was carried out to determine the energy flow through three of the
trophic levels in a 1000 m2 area of a habitat. The energy flow through these trophic
levels, in one year, was estimated. The results are shown in the table below.

Trophic level Energy / kJ m–2 yr–1

Producers 2196
Primary consumers 864
Secondary consumers 42

(i) Explain what is meant by a trophic level.

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(1)

(ii) Calculate the energy that is lost between producers and secondary consumers in
this 1000 m2 area in a year. Show your working.

Answer ........................................
(3)

(iii) Explain why some of the energy available to producers is not available to primary
consumers.

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(3) Q2

(Total 12 marks)

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3. After a person dies, the skeletal muscles will undergo contraction. In an investigation,
the degree of contraction of muscle fibres kept at 37 °C and at 25 °C was measured. The
degree of contraction was recorded as a percentage of the maximum contraction of the
muscle fibre.

The results are shown in the graph below.

100 ±
90 ± 25 8C
80 ±
70 ±
60 ±
Degree of
contraction 50 ±
(%)
40 ±
30 ± 37 8C
20 ±
10 ±
0±
±

±
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time since death / hours

(a) Describe the effect of temperature on the degree of contraction of muscle fibres.

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(3)

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(b) The degree of contraction in muscles can be used to estimate the time of death of a
body. Using the information in the graph, explain why it is important to know the
temperature of the environment the dead body is in.

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(2)

(c) Give two other ways in which time of death can be estimated.

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(2) Q3

(Total 7 marks)

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4. The aluminium ions in acid soils are usually toxic to plant roots, inhibiting their growth.
Some maize plants grow well on acid soils containing a high concentration of aluminium
ions. These maize plants have a tolerance to aluminium ions.

(a) Suggest how tolerance to high concentrations of aluminium ions could be of benefit
to these maize plants.

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(2)

(b) The distribution of maize plants in a field might be affected by soil pH. Describe,
giving practical details, how the distribution of plants could be estimated and related
to a soil factor such as pH.

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(4)

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(c) The tolerance of maize plants to aluminium ions depends on two genes, alt1 and alt2.
A study was carried out to investigate the effect of high concentrations of aluminium
ions on root growth in maize plants of known genotypes.

(i) Plants known to be heterozygous for both of the genes were crossed and the seeds
collected.

Draw a genetic diagram to show the genotypes expected in the seeds produced
by this cross. Use the symbols A and a to represent the alleles for alt1 and the
symbols B and b to represent the alleles for alt2.

(3)

(ii) All the seeds produced from this genetic cross were grown in the presence of a
high concentration of aluminium ions. The growth of the roots in the plants was
observed and recorded. The results are shown in the table below along with a
possible genetic explanation.

Growth seen in the Possible genetic

Number of plants
roots explanation
At least one dominant allele
Normal 184
for both genes is present
At least one dominant allele
Reduced 62
for alt1 is present
No dominant allele for alt1
None 78
is present

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Using all the information in the table, give the genotypes for the plants that show
a phenotype of reduced root growth.

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(1)

(iii) Suggest an explanation for the ratio of the three phenotypes shown in the table.

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(2) Q4

(Total 12 marks)

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5. T helper cells are an important part of the immune system. HIV causes the destruction of
T helper cells and can cause the development of AIDS.

(a) Describe two effects of a lack of T helper cells.

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(2)

(b) (i) Explain how the immune system brings about the destruction of a virus in the
bloodstream.

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(3)

(ii) Explain how the immune system of a previously infected person would respond
to a subsequent infection by the same virus.

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(3)

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(c) It has been discovered that some people are resistant to HIV infection because they
have a genetic difference that allows their immune system to destroy the virus very
effectively.

A new strain of HIV has been found in people who are resistant to HIV. This strain
is very similar to previous strains, but has genetic differences that prevent it from
being destroyed by their immune systems. However, the virus is unable to replicate
properly which means that only small numbers are present in the bloodstream and
AIDS does not develop.

Suggest how this is an example of an ‘evolutionary race’ between HIV and humans.

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(4) Q5

(Total 12 marks)

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6. An investigation was carried out into the effects of light intensity on the growth of two
species of plant, species A and species B. The total growth per day and the leaf area to
mass ratio were measured. The results are shown in the graphs below.

180 ±
160 ± &
140 ± &
*
120 ± *
*
Growth±1 ±1 100 ±
/ mg g day * &
80 ±
60 ± * &
40 ±
20 ± &
0±
±

±
Key 0 20 40 60 80 100
& Species A Light intensity / percentage of full daylight
* Species B

40 ±
35 ± *
*
30 ±
25 ± *
Relative &
leaf2 area 20 ± &
/ m kg±1 && *
&
15 ± *
10 ±
5±
0±
±

Key 0 20 40 60 80 100
& Species A
* Species B Light intensity / percentage of full daylight

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(a) Suggest which of these plants is likely to be more successful in the conditions of low
light intensity on a woodland floor. Use information from the graphs to explain your
answer.

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(3)

(b) Both of these species of plants have a low rate of growth at low light intensities. Use
your knowledge of photosynthesis to suggest an explanation for this.

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(5)

QUESTION 6 CONTINUES ON THE NEXT PAGE

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(c) Explain how a lower rate of respiration can affect plant productivity.

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(3) Q6

(Total 11 marks)

TOTAL FOR PAPER: 60 MARKS

END

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