Q1.(a) Evidence about extinct species of animals and plants comes from fossils.
Below is a photograph of a fossil of a bird-like animal called Archaeopteryx.
Archaeopteryx lived about 150 million years ago.
© Wlad74/iStock/Thinkstock
(i) Suggest how the fossil of Archaeopteryx was formed.
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(2)
(ii) Scientists have found other fossils of the ancestors of modern birds, but the
fossil record is very incomplete.
Suggest two reasons why there are gaps in the fossil record.
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(2)
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(b) There are many different species of bird on the Earth today.
Describe how these different species may have evolved from an ancestor such as
Archaeopteryx.
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(4)
(Total 8 marks)
Q2.In 1866, Gregor Mendel published the results of his investigations into inheritance in garden
pea plants.
The diagram below shows the results Mendel obtained in one investigation with
purple-flowered and white-flowered pea plants.
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(a) (i) Calculate the ratio of purple-flowered plants to white-flowered plants in the F2
generation.
Ratio of purple : white = ................................................
(1)
(ii) There was a total of 929 plants in the F2 generation.
Mendel thought that the production of a large number of offspring plants
improved the investigation.
Explain why.
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(2)
(b) (i) Some of the plants in the diagram are homozygous for flower colour and
some are heterozygous.
Complete the table to show whether each of the plants is homozygous or
heterozygous. For each plant, tick ( ) one box.
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Homozygous Heterozygous
Purple-flowered plant in the P generation
White-flowered plant in the P generation
Purple-flowered plant in the F1 generation
(2)
(ii) Draw a genetic diagram to show how self-pollination of the F1 purple-flowered
plants produced mainly purple-flowered offspring in the F2 generation together
with some white-flowered offspring.
Use the following symbols:
N = allele for purple flower colour
n = allele for white flower colour
(3)
(c) When Mendel published his work on genetics, other scientists at the time did not
realise how important it was.
Suggest two reasons why.
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(2)
(Total 10 marks)
Q3.The image below shows:
• Phiomia, an ancestor of elephants
• a modern African elephant.
Phiomia lived about 35 million years ago.
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Phiomia African elephant
© Dorling Kindersley via Thinkstock
Both Phiomia and the African elephant reach up into trees to get leaves.
In the 1800s, Darwin and Lamarck had different theories about how the long nose of
Phiomia evolved into the trunk of the African elephant.
(a) (i) Use Darwin’s theory of natural selection to explain how the elephant’s trunk
evolved.
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(4)
(ii) Lamarck’s theory is different from Darwin’s theory.
Use Lamarck’s theory to explain how the elephant’s trunk evolved.
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(2)
(b) (i) In the 1800s, many scientists could not decide whether Lamarck’s theory or
Darwin’s theory was the right one.
Give two reasons why.
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(2)
(ii) Before the 1800s, many people had a different idea to explain where all the
living things on Earth came from.
What idea was this?
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(1)
(Total 9 marks)
Q4.(a) Fossils provide evidence for what early life forms were like. From the evidence,
scientists think that life began on Earth more than 3 billion years ago.
Many early life forms were soft-bodied.
Explain why this makes it difficult for scientists to be certain about what these early
life forms were like.
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(2)
(b) The illustration below shows two types of pistol shrimp.
The shrimps live in shallow, tropical seas on opposite sides of Panama.
Panama
Not to scale
Scientists put one Type A shrimp and one Type B shrimp together in a tank of
seawater.
The two types of shrimp snapped their claws aggressively at each other.
They did not mate.
The scientists said that this was evidence for the Type A and Type B shrimps being
classified as two different species.
(i) Give one reason why the scientists’ opinion may be correct.
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(1)
(ii) Suggest two reasons why the scientists’ opinion may not be correct.
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(2)
(c) Panama is a narrow strip of land which today joins North America and South
America.
It was formed by land moving up from beneath the sea. Panama has separated the
Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea for the past 3 million years.
Explain how two different species of pistol shrimp could have developed from an
ancestral species of shrimp.
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(6)
(Total 11 marks)
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Q5.Darwin suggested the theory of natural selection.
(a) Explain how natural selection occurs.
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(3)
(b) Latitude is a measure of distance from the Earth’s equator.
Scientists investigated the effect of latitude on:
• the time taken for new species to evolve
• the number of living species.
The table shows the scientists’ results.
Latitude Time taken for new
Relative number of
in degrees North of species to evolve in
living species
equator millions of years
0 (at the equator) 3–4 100
25 2 80
50 1 30
75 (in the Arctic) 0.5 20
As latitude increases environmental conditions become more severe.
(i) Describe the patterns shown by the data.
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(2)
(ii) Suggest explanations for the patterns you have described in part (b)(i).
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(2)
(Total 7 marks)
Q6.Howea forsteriana and Howea belmoreana are two species of palm tree.
The two species grow together on a small island in the South Pacific.
(a) What is meant by the term species ?
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(2)
(b) The table gives some information about these two species of palm tree.
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Howea forsteriana Howea belmoreana
Optimum pH of the soil
for growth of the palm pH 8 pH 6
tree
Height above sea level
30 to 60 metres above 120 metres
of most common habitat
Month when most palm
October December
trees flower
Method of pollination Wind carries pollen Wind carries pollen
Scientists believe that these two species of palm tree began to evolve from a single
species over 2 million years ago.
Suggest how these two different species developed.
In your answer you should use information from the table and your own knowledge.
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(5)
(Total 7 marks)
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Q7.The drawings show two different species of butterfly.
Amauris Hypolimnas
• Both species can be eaten by most birds.
• Amauris has an unpleasant taste which birds do not like, so birds have learnednot
to prey on it.
• Hypolimnas does not have an unpleasant taste but most birds do not prey on it.
(a) Suggest why most birds do not prey on Hypolimnas.
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(2)
(b) Suggest an explanation, in terms of natural selection, for the markings on the wings
of Hypolimnas.
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(3)
(Total 5 marks)
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