IGCSE CO-ORDINATED SCIENCES (PART TWO) ASSIGNMENT 13

IGCSECo-ordinated Sciences
Assignment Thirteen
Name: Max. Mark: 45 Your Mark:

Answer all the questions in the spaces provided. Use black ink throughout, though any diagrams and
graphs should be done in pencil.

In any questions involving calculations you may use a calculator and, in these questions, it is important
that you show your working.

Remember: the marks are a guide as to how much you need to write. If an answer is worth two marks
you will need to state two facts, or one fact and an explanation.

1. Which feature of sexual reproduction helps a species to evolve?

A Fewer offspring are produced than in asexual reproduction.

B Offspring are the result of the fusion of the nuclei of dissimilar gametes.

C Offspring always inherit advantageous characteristics.

D Offspring produced will always be in a suitable environment.

(1 mark)

2. The diagram shows the menstrual cycle of a woman during the month of September

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30

Key

= ovulation

= menstruation

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IGCSE SCIENCES (PART TWO) ASSIGNMENT 13

Why can fertilisation not take place if sperms are released into the vagina on 8th September?

Sperms are washed out of the female uterus by the menstrual flow.

B Sperms can survive in the female reproductive system for only 3 or 4 days.

C Sperms must be released after ovulation for fertilisation to take place.

D The uterus lining is washed out of the female body during menstruation.

(1 mark)

3. The diagram shows a cell of an organism formed by reduction division. The nucleus contains 20
chromosomes

What is the diploid number for this organism?

A 10

B 20
c 40
D 48
(1 mark)

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IGCSE CO-ORDINATED SCIENCES (PART TWO) ASSIGNMENT 13

4. Antibiotics often do not work as effectively against bacterial infections as they used to.

What change has taken place in the bacteria, and what type of selection has brought this about?

Change in the bacteria Type of selection

A have become immune to the antibiotic artificial

B have become immune to the antibiotic natural

C have become resistant to the antibiotic artificial

D have become resistant to the antibiotic natural

(1 mark)
5. After its flowers have been pollinated, a sweetcorn (maize) plant produces a corncob as shown
in Fig. 5.1.

purple grain

yellow grain

Fig. 5.1

Each of the individual grains on the corncob results from the fertilization of a different egg cell in
the female parent. The pollen all came from the same (male) parent

Some of the grains are purple (dark) in colour and others yellow (light) in colour

a. The variation in grain colour is an example of discontinuous variation.

Explain why this variation is des ribed as discontinuous

(2 marks)

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IGCSE CO-ORDINATED SCIENCES (PART TWO) ASSIGNMENT 13

b.
In the row of grains labelled X to Y, count the number of purple (dark) grains and the
number of yellow (light) grains.

Number of purple (dark) grains

Number of yellow (light) grains

(I mark)
ii. State, to the nearest whole number, the ratio of purple grains to yellow grains.

(I mark)
c. The allele for purple colour (G) is dominant and the allele for yellow colour (g) is recessive

What would be the colour of a sweetcorn grain with the genotype Gg?

(1 mark)

ii. Use the ratio of purple grains and ellow grains in (b)(ii) to state the genotypes of the
parents

Genotypes and

(2 marks)

d. Complete the genetic diagram below to show the result of crossing a heterozygous
sweetcorn plant with a yellow-grained sweetcorn plant.

parents purple yellow

oo
genotype

gametes

offspring

genotype

grain colour

ratio

(5 marks)
(Total 12 marks)
3

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IGCSE SCIENCES (PART TWO) ASSIGNMENT 13

6. Fig. 6.1 shows some stages in the formation of a human fetus.

amniotic
fluid
amnion
sperm cell

O o•g oo*'

egg cell zygote

ball of
fetus
cells

Fig. 6.1

a. Most human cells contain 46 chromosomes.

State the number of chromosomes in a sperm cell.

(1 mark)

ii. State the number of chromosomes in a zygote.

(1 mark)

iii. Name the part of the cell in which chromosomes are found

(1 mark)

b. Mutations sometimes occur in the chromosomes of a cell.

Mutations are generally harmful, but sometimes a mutation may increase an organism's
ability to survive in its environment.

Explain how this could lead to a change, over time, in the characteristics of a population of
organisms.

CA

(4 marks)
(Total 7 marks)

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IGCSE CO-ORDINATED SCIENCES (PART TWO) ASSIGNMENT 13

7. Fig. 7.1 shows the female reproductive system.

Fig. 7.1

a. Name the structures labelled A, B, C and D.

c Cec

(2 marks)

b. Fig. 5.2 shows how the thickness of the uterus lining changes during the menstrual cycle

thickness
of uterus
lining

1st 7th 14th 21st 28th

date in June

Fig. 7.2

Suggest the date on which menstruation began.

(1 mark)

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IGCSE CO-ORDINATED SCIENCES (PART ASSIGNMENT 13

ii. Suggest the date on which ovulation (the release of an egg from an ovary) occurred.

(1 mark)

c. AIDS can be transmitted from one person to another during sexual intercourse. Explain how
this transmission can take place.

(2 marks)
(Total 6 marks)

8. Dairy cattle are kept to produce milk. The milk is produced and stored in the cows udder.

udder

In 1965, a long experiment was begun to find out if artificial selection could increase the milk
yield of cows.

In one set of cows, artificial selection for high milk yield was carried out in each generation.
These were called the selected line.

In the other set, there was no artificial selection. These were called the control line. Both sets of
cows were kept under the same conditions.

The mean milk yield from the cows that were born in each year from 1965 to 1990 was
calculated. The results are shown in Fig. 8.1

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IGCSE CO-ORDINATED SCIENCES (PART TWO) ASSIGNMENT 13

12

11 selected line

mean milk
yield per
cow / kg

control line

1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990

year of cow's birth

Fig. 8.1

a. Calculate the change in mean milk yield per cow between 1965 and 1990 for

the selected line,

the control line.

(2 marks)

b. Describe how artificial selection would have been carried out in the selected line

(4 marks)
IGCSE CO-ORDINATED SCIENCES (PART TWO) ASSIGNMENT 13

c. Suggest a reason for the results for the control line.

(1 mark)

d. The researchers also looked at the costs of health treatment in each of the two breeding
lines. Table 3.1 shows some of the results

Cost of treatment Cost of treatment

Health problem
in selected line / $ in control line / $

mastitis
43 16
(inflammation of the udder)

lameness 10 6

Suggest an explanation for the results shown in Table 3.1

(2 marks)

ii. State and explain one reason, other than health treatment costs, why it would be more
expensive to keep the cows from the selected line than the cows from the control line.

C c-fS
(2 marks)
(Total 11 marks)

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IGCSE CO-ORDINATED SCIENCES (PART TWO) ASSIGNMENT 13

9. A disease called thalassaemia is caused by a person's genes.

The haemoglobin gene has two alleles, T and t. A person with the alleles tt has thalassaemia, but
a person with alleles Tt does not.

a. State which allele, T or t, is dominant. Explain your answer.

allele

explanation
So

(1 mark)
b. Complete the genetic diagram to show how two parents who do not have thalassaemia
could have a child with thalassaemia.

phenotypes of parents man without woman without

thalassaemia thalassaemia
genotypes of parents

gametes O and
o o and
o
gametes from woman

O O
gametes
from man

(4 marks)
(Total 5 marks)

TOTAL FOR ASSIGNMENT 45 MARKS

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