Look inside the Edexcel A-Level Biology A (Salters-Nuffield) guide (9BN0)

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Look inside the Edexcel A-Level Biology A (Salters-Nuffield) guide

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Edexcel · A-Level · 9BN0
Biology A
Active Recall Guide
1,892 questions
Biology AContents
Contents
8 topics, 136 subtopics
  1. Lifestyle, Health and Risk200
  2. Genes and Health259
  3. Voice of the Genome194
  4. Biodiversity and Natural Resources287
  5. On the Wild Side319
  6. Immunity, Infection and Forensics180
  7. Run for Your Life213
  8. Grey Matter240
ii
Genes and HealthQuestions
Genes and Health
Gas exchange surfaces and Fick's Law
  1. Why do gas exchange surfaces have a large surface area to volume ratio?
  2. How does the thickness of a gas exchange surface affect its efficiency?
  3. Why must gas exchange surfaces maintain a steep concentration gradient?
  4. How does surface area affect the rate of diffusion?
  5. What is the relationship between the thickness of an exchange surface and the rate of diffusion?
  6. How does concentration difference affect the rate of diffusion?
  7. State Fick's Law in words.
  8. In Fick's Law, what does the symbol A represent?
  9. In Fick's Law, what does ΔC represent?
12
Genes and HealthAnswers
Answers
Gas exchange surfaces and Fick's Law
  1. To maximise the area available for diffusion.
  2. Gas exchange surfaces are thin to minimise the diffusion distance, which increases the rate of diffusion.
  3. To maximise the rate of diffusion across the surface.
  4. The rate of diffusion is directly proportional to the surface area.
  5. The rate of diffusion is inversely proportional to the thickness of the exchange surface.
  6. The rate of diffusion is directly proportional to the concentration difference.
  7. The rate of diffusion is proportional to the surface area multiplied by the concentration difference, divided by the thickness of the exchange surface.
  8. Surface area.
  9. The concentration difference (or concentration gradient).
13
Biodiversity and Natural ResourcesQuestions
Biodiversity and Natural Resources
Niches and the three kinds of adaptation
  1. Define the term niche in ecology.
  2. What components are included in an organism's niche?
  3. What are behavioural adaptations?
  4. Give an example of what would classify as a behavioural adaptation.
  5. What are physiological adaptations?
  6. How do physiological adaptations differ from anatomical adaptations?
  7. What are anatomical adaptations?
  8. Explain how adaptations arise in a population.
  9. Why must adaptations be inherited for natural selection to occur?
34
Biodiversity and Natural ResourcesAnswers
Answers
Niches and the three kinds of adaptation
  1. A niche is the role an organism plays in its ecosystem, including its habitat, how it obtains food and energy, and all its interactions with biotic and abiotic factors.
  2. Its habitat, how it obtains food and energy, and all its interactions with biotic and abiotic factors.
  3. Behavioural adaptations are inherited behaviours that increase an organism's chances of survival and reproduction in its environment.
  4. Any inherited behaviour that increases survival or reproduction, such as migration, courtship displays, or nocturnal activity patterns.
  5. Physiological adaptations are internal body processes or metabolic functions that help an organism survive in its environment.
  6. Physiological adaptations involve internal processes or metabolic functions, whereas anatomical adaptations are structural features of the body.
  7. Anatomical adaptations are structural features of an organism's body that help it survive and reproduce in its environment.
  8. Adaptations arise through natural selection, where individuals with advantageous inherited variations are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing on their alleles to offspring.
  9. Only inherited variations can be passed on to offspring, allowing advantageous alleles to increase in frequency in the population over generations.
35
Run for Your LifeQuestions
Run for Your Life
Muscles and Movement
  1. What type of connective tissue attaches muscles to bones?
  2. Describe the properties of tendons that make them suited to their function.
  3. What is the function of ligaments?
  4. What role does the skeleton play in movement?
  5. Why do muscles need to work in pairs to produce movement at a joint?
  6. What is an antagonistic muscle pair?
  7. Define a flexor muscle.
  8. Define an extensor muscle.
  9. What happens to the extensor muscle when the flexor muscle in an antagonistic pair contracts?
56
Run for Your LifeAnswers
Answers
Muscles and Movement
  1. Tendons
  2. Tendons are strong and inelastic, allowing them to transmit the force generated by muscle contraction directly to the skeleton without stretching
  3. Ligaments connect bones to other bones at joints, providing stability and limiting the range of movement
  4. The skeleton provides a rigid framework of levers that muscles pull against to produce movement
  5. Because muscles can only generate force by contracting (pulling) and cannot push, so a second muscle is needed to produce movement in the opposite direction
  6. Two muscles that work in opposition to produce movement at a joint, with one contracting while the other relaxes
  7. A muscle that contracts to decrease the angle at a joint, bending the limb
  8. A muscle that contracts to increase the angle at a joint, straightening the limb
  9. The extensor relaxes
57
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