Answers to Coursebo0k questions
Unit 2 Living things in their
environment
Topic 2.1 Plant adaptations
1 Students may think of:
• spines, which deter thirsty animals from eating it
• reduced leaves, so that less water is lost by
evaporation from the leaves
• swollen stem, which stores water
• deep or spreading roots, which can draw water
from a wide area.
2 Photosynthesis, and therefore growth, is slow in
winter. This is because days are very short (so there is
not much light) and because it is very cold.
3 The fruits are attractive to animals, which eat them.
The animals may drop partly eaten fruits, or they
may move away from the tree, and the seeds are
deposited in their faeces.
4 Weeds are plants that are growing where people do
not want them. People destroy weeds – for example,
by hoeing or ploughing fields, or by spraying
weedkillers. If a plant can germinate, grow and
produce new seeds before this happens, then the seeds
can survive even if the adult plant cannot. The seed
can later germinate to produce a new plant.
Topic 2.2 Animal adaptations
1 a There are many possibilities, for example, the little
bristles on an earthworm, which help it to grip the
sides of its burrow.
b The oryx provides the best examples of
behavioural adaptations, for example, feeding at
night when it is cooler.
2 Evaporation is the change from liquid to gas, at a
temperature below boiling point. In a liquid, such as the
sweat on the surface of an oryx’s skin, water particles
(molecules) are in constant movement. Some particles
have enough energy to escape the attractive forces of the
other particles and fly off into the air. When it is warmer,
more particles have enough energy to do this. So less
evaporation will occur at night, when it is cooler.
3 There are no correct answers to this; students are
asked to come up with sensible suggestions. For
example, they might say that standing on two legs
helped early humans to see over tall grass, so that
they could spot predators.
Topic 2.3 Ecology
1 Whether the area was grazed by camels, or by oryx
and gazelles.
2 The mean number of plants per plot, and the mean
number of plant species per plot.
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3 The position of the plots; the size of the plots.
4 For example, camel grazing reduces the number of
plants and the number of species of plant, growing
in the same area.
5 Students could come up with various ideas. Look for
ideas that improve the control of variables, or that
increase the quantity of data obtained. For example,
the researchers could start off with an area where
nothing grazes, and then introduce camels to one
part of it and oryx and gazelles to another part,
using equal numbers of camels and oryx + gazelles.
6 There is no single correct answer; look for the idea
of standardisation. For example, the students could
sweep the net in a particular way through the water,
for a particular length of time, and then collect the
organisms they have caught. They could do this a set
number of times.
7 They could record the number of invertebrates and
the concentration of dissolved oxygen at several
different points in the river. Plot a graph, with
concentration of dissolved oxygen on one axis and
number of invertebrates on the other. Look for a
pattern in the graph.
Topic 2.4 Food webs and
energy flow
1 phytoplankton
2 Any three of the other organisms in the web.
3 Any food chain that contains zooplankton and ends
with a killer whale, for example: zooplankton →
squid → penguin → killer whale.
4 They are wearing gloves and goggles. This is in
case there is anything harmful (such as pathogenic
bacteria) in the water.
5 They can use books or the internet.
6 They will need to find out what the animals eat, and
what eats them.
Topic 2.5 Decomposers
1 The food chain must begin with a producer.
2 We both feed on starch and protein.
We both produce enzymes to break down large
molecules to small molecules.
3 The fungus grows through its food, whereas we take
it into our digestive system.
The fungus digests its food outside its body, whereas
we digest our food inside our body.
Topic 2.6 Populations
1 They were approximately equal.
2 This shows a rapid growth in human populations.
Birth rate was greater than death rate. This could
Cambridge Checkpoint Science 9 1
 Answers to Coursebo0k questions: Unit 2

be because of advances in medicine or sanitation, so have their own strong environmental programmes and
that fewer people died from infections. Food supplies do not feel the need to be part of a global one (Bhutan).
could have been greater because of better farming 2 Ozone is a gas that is found high up above the Earth.
techniques. This could have increased birth rate and 3 The ozone layer protects us from harmful ultraviolet
decreased death rate. radiation from the Sun.
3 No-one can be sure what will happen to the size of 4 Students could work out that this was probably when
the human population in future. CFCs first began to be used.
4 The leopard seals would have less to eat, so their 5 CFCs are very long-lasting. Even after people stopped
population would probably decrease. using them, they persisted in the atmosphere for a
5 The krill would have fewer predators, so its long time. Also, it took time to phase out their use.
population might increase. 6 Most countries use a lot of fossil fuel, for example,
6 For example, the amount of grazing by herbivores, to make electricity or to run cars. It is difficult for
the amount of light, the amount of water available. countries to find alternative sources of energy, or to
reduce energy consumption.
Topic 2.7 Pollution End of unit questions
1 Mineral salts, for example nitrate, potassium and 2.1 For example: long legs for wading (in water or mud);
phosphate. long beak for spearing fish or other animals; wings
2 Plants need light for photosynthesis. If they cannot for flying to find food or escape predators. [6]
photosynthesise, they cannot make any food, so they 2.2 a grass, blackberry, nettle [1]
die.
b One of: fox, beetle, blue tit, owl,
3 The bacteria are decomposers. They get their energy kestrel [1]
by feeding on dead plants. If there are more dead
plants, the bacteria can reproduce more quickly. c The flow of energy. [1]
4 Fish need oxygen for respiration. If they cannot d nettle → aphid → beetle
respire, they have no energy and will die. nettle → aphid → blue tit
5 The population of birds that feed on fish will decrease. nettle → caterpillar → blue tit [1]
6 The algal bloom occurs where there are high e Any three of these ideas:
concentrations of mineral ions in the sea. Fertilisers There might be fewer foxes / kestrels /
have run into the sea from the land. owls because they would have less food
There might be more rabbits / mice / aphids
Topic 2.8 Habitat destruction because they would have more food [3]
1 a As there are more people, we use more land for 2.3 a decomposers [1]
agriculture, mining or building. b Any two of:
b Each species is adapted to live in a particular produces enzymes; that break down large
habitat. If that habitat is lost, then the species is molecules into small ones; small molecules
unable to live elsewhere. diffuse into the fungus’s body [2]
2 Algae inside the coral animals. c They recycle substances; for example,
3 The amount of carbon dioxide in the air is minerals / other named material; so that
increasing. This is at least partly caused by humans other organisms can use them. [3]
burning fossil fuels. 2.4 a March [1]
4 Calcium carbonate reacts with acids. So the calcium b Yes, as when the rainfall is greater the grass
carbonate in the coral reefs will react with the acidic is taller. [2]
sea water.
c Any four of:
There are more zebras when there is more rain.
Topic 2.9 Protecting the
There are more zebras when the grass is taller.
environment Zebras need water to drink.
1 Saudi Arabia, Oman, Afghanistan, Bhutan, North
Korea. We cannot know the reasons, but possibilities are Zebras need grass to eat.
that they do not have many wetlands (Saudi Arabia), When they have plenty of water fewer zebras die.
that they are too unstable or war torn to be able to Zebras breed when there is plenty of
devote time and energy to this (Afghanistan), or that they food and water. [4]

Copyright Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint Science 9 2