Unit 3, Topic 1 (MARKSCHEME)

1. Describe a productive soil. (1 mark)

Productive soils consist of grains of varying size along with a mixture of minerals and decayed
organic materials that support healthy plant growth

2. Explain how the process of classifying ecosystems is an important step towards effective
ecosystem management of productive soils. (4 marks)
 The process of classifying a productive soil enables managers/decision makers to make
decisions about its management.
 Agreement about the classification allows stakeholders to make decisions to serve a wide
range of values, for example allowing an increase productivity, profitability and sustainability
of the soil.
 Classification helps to support effective management of activities such as crop
rotation/reducing overgrazing/ other soil conservation strategies to minimise soil erosion
and increase soil capacity productivity and sustainability.
 Classification of ecosystems helps to support understanding of their unique interactions and
therefore the effect of specific human impacts. This can lead to longer term resilience.

3. Define the term clade. (1 mark)

A clade is a group of organisms that consists of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants

4. Identify an example of an interspecific hybrid. (1 mark)

Mule / liger / tigon / zedonkey (obviously mule is named in the syllabus, so this would be your
go-to)

5. Explain why environmental factors limit the distribution and abundance of species in an
ecosystem. (2 marks)
 Every organism has a slightly different tolerance limit.
 These are the upper and lower limits to the range of particular environmental factors within
which an organism can survive.
 Therefore, environmental conditions outside of a species tolerance range will prevent the
distribution, or decrease the abundance of said species.
6. Recall one common assumption of cladistics. (1 mark)

One of the following:

 Any group of organisms are related by descent from a common ancestor.

 There is a bifurcating pattern of cladogenesis/bifurcation.
 Change in physical characteristics occurs in lineages over time.
7. Describe commensalism. (1 mark)

An association between two organisms in which one benefits and the other derives neither
benefit nor harm.

8. Name one example of commensalism. (1 mark)

Remora attaching to sharks (feeds off remains of meals and has a bit of protection from shark)

Cattle egret following livestock herds (feed on insects turned up by grazing mammals)

Golden jackal following tigers (feed on leftovers from tiger kills)

Or any other valid example

9. a. The table below shows data collected from a study carried out to estimate the species
diversity of a range of fish species in a tidal pool ecosystem.

Fish species Number of individuals n(n-1)

Dalefish 44 1892
Baggifish 32 992
Coolfish 14 182
Glenfish 11 110
Halfish 17 272
Thomfish 2 2
Total 120 3450

Use the following equation to calculate the SDI of the tidal pool ecosystem. (1 mark)
Give your answer to 2dp.

N(N-1) = 120 x 119 = 14280

= 1 - (3450/14280)
= 1 - 0.2416
Answer: 0.76
 b. From the given information above, determine the species richness (D) for the tidal pool
ecosystem. Use the following equation and give your answer to 2dp.

D = 6 / √120

(This was taken from the example exam. I know species richness is the number of species (i.e. 6 in
the real world, but the question is asking you to calculate something using an equation  use the
equation!)

Answer: 0.55

10. Describe the Linnaean system of classifying organisms. (3 marks)

 hierarchical structure
 three domains / five kingdoms
 binomial nomenclature
 use of morphological features

11. Cytochrome C is a protein that consists of 104 amino acids. Many of these 104 sites on
Cytochrome C contain the same amino acid across a large range of organisms. There are,
however, some differences at certain sites. It is hypothesised that different organisms, all
containing Cytochrome C proteins, descended from a primitive microbe that lived over 2
billion years ago.
The table below uses the three-letter codes for various amino acids found at specific sites for
each organism.
Using only the data for the molecular homology of Cytochrome C, which one of the following
organisms is most closely related to the dogfish? (1 mark)

a) Drosophila
b) Chicken
c) Human
d) Yeast

12. Identify the correct convention for naming a Dalefish. (1 mark)

a) Biologo daleii
b) biologo daleii
c) Biologo daleii
d) Biologo Daleii

13. The diagrams below represent two separate communities. Different shapes represent
different species. (1 mark)

With respect to the two communities:

a) Community A has a higher species richness than Community B
b) Community A has a higher species evenness than Community B
c) Community A has a lower species richness than Community B
d) Community A has a lower species evenness than Community B
 14. The phylogenetic tree below shows the evolution of plants.

The phylogenetic tree indicates that: (1 mark)

a) Seeds evolved after flowers

b) Woody tissue evolved after xylem and phloem
c) Cycads have woody tissue and flowers
d) Cuticle is present in ferns but not mosses

15. Recall what is assumed to accumulate mutations at a constant rate over time. (1 mark)

Conserved sequences
 16. a. The Holdridge system can be used to classify an ecosystem:

The potential evapotranspiration ratio of a subtropical rainforest would be: (1 mark)

a) Between 16 and 32
b) Between 8 and 16
c) Between 0.125 and 0.25
d) Between 4000 and 8000

b. Using the Holdridge system, classify an ecosystem with a PER of 2.6 and an annual
precipitation of 65. (1 mark)

Desert

17. The wholphin is an example of: (1 mark)

a) An r-select strategist
b) An interspecific hybrid
c) A keystone species
d) A pioneer species
 17. Contrast r and K reproductive strategies. (4 marks)

18. Describe ammensalism. (1 mark)

An ecological interaction in which an individual species harms another without obtaining benefit.

19. Name one example of ammensalism. (1 mark)

Black walnut secreting juglone, Penicillium secretes penicillin which kills bacteria

(Although I’m still maintaining this interaction is not.a.thing.)

20. Below is part of the phylogenetic tree for the Felidae.

Using evidence from the diagram, state which two cat species are likely to be most closely related. (1
mark)

Lion and jaguar

21. Light is an environmental factor that affects the growth of eucalyptus trees. Give two other
environmental factors that affect the growth of eucalyptus trees (MY BAD  was trying to
convert from British to Australian and didn’t convert the second part of the question!). (2
marks)
1. Temperature
2. Water
3. Soil pH
4. Minerals/ion concentration
5. Wind
6. Herbivores

22. The photo shows a ring-tailed lemur.

The table shows part of the classification of the ring-tailed lemur.

a. Complete the table to give the names of the missing classification groups. (1 mark)
b. Give the binomial name of the ring-tailed lemur. Use the information from the table. (1
mark)

Lemur catta