BIOLODY EXAM PREPARATION STUDY SHEET

1. Plant Responses & Growth (Irritability and Tropisms)

• Irritability in invertebrates:
Irritability is the ability that living organisms have to respond to changes in
their environment

• How invertebrates respond to stimuli:

Invertebrates such as millipedes, earthworms and woodlice move their whole bodies
towards or away from a stimuli. These responses aid is survival and can be
investigated using a chamber.


(b) State the hypothesis for this experiment.
• Earthworms will move towards the dark side of the Petri dish, showing negative
phototropism.
(c) Identify the independent and dependent variables.
• Independent variable: dark side and light side. Dependent variable: number of
earth worms in each section of the Petri dish.
(d) Suggest a control for this experiment.
• The control could involve using a second Petri dish that is entirely exposed to
light, to test whether light or the presence of dark, influences earthworm
movement.


Predict the distribution of woodlice after 15 minutes and explain your reasoning.
• Woodlice are typically found in moist environments because they need to
keep their exoskeletons hydrated. After 15 minutes, it is expected that most
woodlice will move toward the moist section.
(c) A graph is drawn showing an increasing number of woodlice in the moist section
over time. Interpret this trend and relate it to irritability and survival.
• The increasing number of woodlice in the moist section over time
suggests that woodlice are demonstrating irritability—responding to the stimulus of
moisture to maintain their water balance. This behavior is crucial for their
survival as they are susceptible to desiccation in dry conditions.

Table showing the response of invertebrates to different stimuli:


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Tropisms

Tropisms and Auxins in Plant Growth

Definitions of Tropisms
• Geotropism: Growth in response to gravity. Roots exhibit positive
geotropism (grow downward), while shoots show negative geotropism (grow upward).
• Phototropism: Growth in response to light. Shoots grow toward light to
maximize photosynthesis.
• Thigmotropism: Growth in response to touch. Seen in climbing plants,
which grow toward physical supports for better light access.

Benefits to Plant Survival

• Geotropism: Roots grow downward, anchoring the plant and ensuring
access to water and nutrients, crucial for stability and survival.
• Phototropism: Shoots grow toward light, optimizing photosynthesis,
essential for energy production and plant growth.
 • Thigmotropism: Climbing plants use supports to reach sunlight,
enhancing their photosynthetic capacity and increasing survival chances.

Discussion of Auxins in Geotropism

Auxins are plant hormones that regulate growth by influencing cell elongation in
response to gravity.
• In Shoots:
When a shoot is tilted, auxins accumulate on the lower side. Auxins promote cell
elongation on this side, causing the shoot to bend upward (negative geotropism) and
toward the light. This ensures the plant can maximize light absorption for
photosynthesis.
• In Roots:
Auxins also move to the lower side when a root is tilted. However, in roots, auxins
inhibit cell growth. The upper side, with less auxin, grows faster, causing the
root to bend downward into the soil (positive geotropism). This stabilizes the
plant and ensures access to water and nutrients.

Effect of Auxin on Growth Cells

• Shoots:
• More auxin → more growth on the lower side, causing the shoot to bend
upward.
• This response ensures shoots grow toward light for optimal
photosynthesis.
• Roots:
• More auxin → less growth on the lower side, leading to faster growth on
the upper side, causing the root to bend downward.
• This response anchors the plant and enhances water and nutrient
absorption.

2. Human Skin & Thermoregulation

Identify the layer containing melanin
The maliphigian layer contains and produces melanin

How does the skin protect us:

⁃ 1. Protective Barrier: It acts as a physical shield against harmful
microorganisms and chemicals.
⁃ 2. UV Protection: Melanin absorbs UV radiation, reducing the risk of
skin damage and cancer.
⁃ 3. Temperature Regulation: The skin helps regulate body temperature
through sweating and blood flow adjustments.
⁃ 4. Sensory Protection: It has sensory receptors that detect pain,
pressure, and temperature, helping to avoid injury.
⁃ 5. Water Retention: The skin prevents dehydration by limiting water
loss.

Thermoregulation helps maintain a stable body temperature, crucial for proper

enzyme function. The skin contributes by sweating to cool the body, expanding blood
vessels to release heat, and constricting them to conserve warmth. Shivering also
generates heat when it’s cold. All these processes keep the body at an optimal
temperature for efficient enzymatic reactions.

Parts of the skin that allow temperature regulation:

1. Sweat glands and pores: Sweat glands secrete sweat, which evaporates on
the skin's surface, removing heat and cooling the body.
2. Blood capillaries: Vasoconstriction: Blood vessels narrow, reducing
blood flow to the skin's surface to retain heat.
 • Vasodilation: Blood vessels widen, increasing blood flow to the skin's
surface to release heat and cool the body.
3. Hair: Hair helps insulate the body by trapping air when the erector
muscles contract, standing hairs up to retain heat. When the muscles relax, hair
lies flat, allowing air to move freely and cool the skin.
4. Erectile muscle: These muscles control hair movement. When they
contract, hairs stand up to trap a layer of warm air close to the skin, helping to
conserve heat.
5. Adipose (fat) tissue: This layer provides insulation, helping to retain
body heat, especially in cold conditions.

The epidermis is the outermost layer of the skin and serves several important
functions:
1. Protection: It acts as a barrier against environmental threats like
pathogens, chemicals, and physical injury.
2. Prevention of Water Loss: The epidermis helps prevent excessive water loss
from the body, maintaining hydration.
3. UV Protection: The melanocytes in the epidermis produce melanin, which
absorbs harmful UV radiation, protecting deeper layers of the skin.
4. Sensation: The epidermis contains sensory receptors that help detect touch,
pressure, pain, and temperature changes.
5. Regeneration: It constantly renews itself through the production of new skin
cells, replacing old or damaged cells.

• When is it most painful: when the dermis is removed or the epidermis?It

is most painful when the dermis is affected. The reason is that the dermis contains
nerve endings (sensory receptors), which send pain signals to the brain when
damaged. It also contains blood vessels and connective tissue that can be injured,
leading to swelling, inflammation, and pain. In contrast, the epidermis, the
outermost layer of the skin, has fewer nerve endings, so damage to this layer tends
to be less painful, even though it may still cause discomfort.
• Compare pain severity between burns affecting the epidermis and the
dermis:Burns that affect the epidermis (outer skin layer) cause mild pain, like a
sunburn, and heal quickly without scarring. These are typically first-degree burns.
Burns that reach the dermis(deeper skin layer) are more painful because the dermis
has more nerve endings. These burns cause intense pain, blisters, and take longer
to heal, often leaving scars. These are typically second-degree burns. So, burns
affecting the dermis are more painful and take more time to heal than those just
affecting the epidermis.

3. Movement in Animals & Accommodation (15 Marks)

The ability of an organism to move from one place to another is called locomotion.

Importance of locomotion
• Only animals carry out locomotion
• To find food for survival and energy
• To escape predators or danger which increases survival
• To find a suitable mate for reproduction

Importance of Movement in Plants

Although plants don’t move in the same way animals do, they still have various
movements that are vital for their survival and growth. These include:
1. Growth Toward Light (Phototropism):
• Plants move towards light to maximize photosynthesis (process by which
green plants use light energy, carbon dioxide, and water to produce glucose (their
food) and oxygen. Temperature significantly influences this process by affecting
the activity of enzymes crucial to the chemical reactions; both excessively high
and low temperatures reduce enzyme function and thus slow photosynthesis), which is
necessary for producing energy.
2. Movement of Roots (Gravitropism):
• Roots grow downward in response to gravity, helping the plant anchor
itself and absorb water and nutrients from the soil.
3. Movement for Reproduction:
• Some plants move their flowers or seeds to help with pollination or
seed dispersal, which ensures the continuation of the species.
4. Response to Touch (Thigmonasty):
• Certain plants can respond to touch or stimuli, like closing flowers or
leaves to protect themselves from harm.

Importance of Movement in Animals

Movement in animals is vital for survival, reproduction, and adaptation. It
includes both locomotion (movement from one place to another) and other types of
movement in the body. Here’s why movement is so important:
1. Finding Food and Water:
• Animals need to move to search for food, water, and other resources
required for survival.
2. Escaping Predators:
• Movement allows animals to flee danger, increasing their chances of
survival and avoiding predators.
3. Reproduction:
• Animals move to find mates for reproduction, ensuring the survival of
their species.

Tissues Coordinating Movement in Humans:

Bone Tissue:
• Function: Provides structural support and protection for the body. It
serves as levers and attachment points for muscles during movement.
• Role in Movement: Bones form the skeleton, which supports the body.
Muscles pull on bones to create movement.
Muscle Tissue:
• Function: Contracts and relaxes to generate force, allowing movement
and locomotion.
• Role in Movement: Muscles work with bones to enable both voluntary and
involuntary movements.
Ligaments:
• Function: Elastic tissues that connect bones to bones.
• Role in Movement: Ligaments help stabilize joints and prevent excessive
movement, ensuring controlled motion.
Tendons:
• Function: Non-elastic structures that attach muscles to bones.
• Role in Movement: Tendons transfer the force generated by muscles to
the bones, causing movement.

Accommodation
Accommodation is the process by which the lens, in association with the ciliary
muscles and suspensory ligaments, allows us to focus on both distant and near
objects.
1. Viewing Distant Objects:
• When viewing distant objects, the ciliary muscles relax, causing the
suspensory ligaments to pull tight.
• This makes the lens become thin and flat. A flatter lens refracts light
less, which helps focus the image clearly on the retina.
2. Viewing Near Objects:
• When viewing near objects, the ciliary muscles contract, which causes
the suspensory ligaments to slacken.
• This reduces the tension on the lens, allowing it to become more
rounded (more convex).
• A more curved lens refracts light more, helping focus near objects on
the retina.

A curved (rounded) lens refracts light more, making it easier to focus on near
objects.
A flatter lens refracts light less, which is better for focusing on distant
objects.

4. The Eye - two types of receptors

The retina contains two main types of receptors, called photoreceptors, which
detect light and enable vision:
⁃ Rods - photoreceptors that detects low light intensities thus allow us
to see black, grey and shapes of images in the “dark”.
⁃ Cones - photoreceptors that detects high light intensities thus
allowing us to see images, colours and details of our surroundings.

1. Movement in Plants:
• What it is: Visible changes in position, like bending or growing in a
specific direction.
• How it works: Controlled by growth (e.g., auxins) or water pressure
inside cells (e.g., Venus flytrap).
• Examples:
• Phototropism: Bending toward light.
• Gravitropism: Roots growing downward.
• Thigmotropism: Vines wrapping around supports.
• Why it happens: To find resources like light or water and adapt to the
environment.

2. Irritability in Plants:
• What it is: Plants sensing and responding to changes like light,
temperature, or touch.
• How it works: Internal changes like hormone production or cell
adjustments.
• Examples:
• Photoreception: Detecting light for growth adjustment.
• Hydrotropism: Roots growing toward water.
• Thigmomorphogenesis: Strengthening growth when touched or exposed to
wind.
• Why it happens: To detect and adapt quickly to environmental changes
for survival.

Key Differences:
• Nature of Response: Movement is a visible action; irritability involves
internal changes and sensing stimuli.
• Scale: Movement affects parts or the whole plant, while irritability
occurs at the cellular or tissue level.
• Function: Movement interacts with the environment (e.g., bending toward
light), while irritability helps plants detect and adjust to changes.

Sight defects, their causes, effects and corrections

1. Nearsightedness, is the inability to see distant objects and only near
objects are seen. This is because the light rays from distant objects are bent too
much by the lens and the image is focused in front of the retina. Hence, distant
objects are not clearly seen. Correction involves using concave lenses in
eyeglasses or contact lenses to reduce the bending of light rays, allowing the
image to focus correctly on the retina.
2. Long-sightedness, is the inability to see near objects and only distant
objects are able to be seen. This is because the light rays from near objects are
not refracted or bent enough by the lens to focus the objects on the retina. Hence
the object is focused behind the retina and cannot be seen clearly. Correction
involves using convex lenses in eyeglasses or contact lenses, which refract light
rays sufficiently to bring the image into focus on the retina.
3. A cataract is when the lens becomes opaque or dull thus preventing
light from passing through it. Treatment involves surgery to remove lens and
replace with healthy lens. The wearing of appropriate glasses or contact lenses to
improve sight.

Draw and differentiate the corrective lenses.



5. Germination, Reflex Arc, & Reflex Action

Describe the process of germination, including conditions (water, oxygen,
temperature) and the changes involved.
⁃ Germination is the process where a seed grows into a seedling. It
starts when the water is absorbed throughout the micropyle which causes the seed to
swell and activate its enzymes that break down stored food in the cotyledons. The
appropriate temperature for enzyme activity and oxygen for respiration are
required. The food broken down is used for
⁃ 1. Amino acids - used to make new cells in the tips of the radicle
(root) and plumule (shoot) so that growth can occur.
⁃ 2. Glucose- used in respiration and to make cellulose cell walls of new
cells
⁃ 3. Fatty Acids and Glycerol - used in respiration and to make cell
membrane.

Reflex arc:
A reflex arc shows the passage or pathway of impulse as message travels through the
spinal cord or brain during a reflex action.




Compare reflex action to voluntary movements


Reflex Actions vs Voluntary Actions:
Reflex Action- This is a quick and automatic response to a stimulus. It is an
example of an involuntary action.
• A reflex action is always initiated by an external stimulus. The pathway between
receptor and effector is known as a reflex arc. It is simple and involves the
following:
1. A receptor that detects the stimulus.
2. A sensory neurone that carries the impulse to the central nervous
system.
3. A relay neurone in the central nervous system that carries the impulse
to a motor neurone.
4. A motor neurone that carries the impulse away from the CNS.
5. An effector that responds to the stimulus.

• A voluntary action is an action consciously controlled by the brain. Voluntary

Action- This is a response that is thought about and is therefore not automatic.
Examples include: crossing the road, drinking water, etc.
• They are learned and real actively slow. Eg. Talking, writing, running

6. Skeletal System & Blood

• Identify the cartilage and its function.

Cartilage is a flexible, connective tissue found in joints, the ribcage, ear, nose,
and other areas of the body. It is made of chondrocytes (cartilage cells) embedded
in a gel-like extracellular matrix.

Functions of Cartilage
• Reduces friction and absorbs shock at the end joints.
• Covers the ends of bones at joints.
• Helps to maintain shape of fleshy appendages eg. outer ear and nose
• Makes up intervertebral disc between vertebrae — acts as a shock
absorber.

Bone marrow is a soft, spongy tissue found inside bones, particularly in the larger
bones. It plays a vital role in blood cell production and immune system function.

Properties:
• Red Blood Cells (Erythrocytes):Red blood cells, produced in the bone
marrow, carry oxygen throughout the body and return carbon dioxide to the lungs.
Their constant production ensures adequate oxygen delivery to tissues. Red blood
cells contain hemoglobin, a protein that carries oxygen, and have a lifespan of
about 120 days before being broken down in the spleen.
• White Blood Cells (Leukocytes):Bone marrow generates various types of
white blood cells, essential components of the immune system that combat infection
and disease. These cells provide crucial defense against pathogens like bacteria,
viruses, and abnormal cells. Different types of white blood cells, lymphocytes and
etc., perform specialized immune functions. These cells are continually produced in
the bone marrow and can move to other parts of the body when needed for immune
defense.
• Stem Cells: Undifferentiated cells, which can develop into any type
of blood cell, including red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Can
develop into many different types of cells in the body, and are essential for
repairing damaged tissue and they self-renew. These stem cells are the source of
new blood cells throughout life.

How to treat Leukemia (bone marrow transplant)

Leukemia is a cancer that affects the bone marrow, the tissue responsible for
producing blood cells. In leukemia, abnormal white blood cells multiply
uncontrollably, crowding out healthy blood cells and leading to symptoms like
anemia (lack of oxygen-carrying red blood cells), increased infection risk (due to
a low healthy white blood cell count), and easy bruising or bleeding (from low
platelets). Leukemia is treated with a bone marrow transplant, where healthy stem
cells replace the diseased marrow to help produce normal blood cells. Radiotherapy
uses high-energy radiation to kill cancer cells and is often used before a
transplant or to target specific areas of the body affected by leukemia.

⁃ Muscle Respiration:
⁃ Compare anaerobic and aerobic respiration in muscle cells during
strenuous exercise.
⁃ During exercise, muscles use both aerobic and anaerobic respiration to
produce energy. Aerobic respiration, which requires oxygen, occurs in the
mitochondria and produces 36-38 ATP per glucose, along with harmless by-products
like carbon dioxide and water. It supports sustained activity during moderate
exercise. In intense activity, when oxygen is limited, anaerobic respiration takes
over, producing only 2 ATP per glucose in the cytoplasm and leading to lactic acid
buildup, which causes muscle fatigue. Aerobic respiration is efficient and long-
lasting, while anaerobic respiration provides a quick, short-term energy boost.
Together, they help muscles meet energy demands.