Biology Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The cell is the lowest of these levels.

The hierarchy runs cell → tissue → organ → organ system → organism → population → community → ecosystem. The cell is the smallest unit that shows all the properties of life.

Answer: A

The potato is not a root - it is a stem tuber, the swollen tip of an underground branch, with buds (the eyes) and scale leaves.

Carrot and radish are swollen taproots, and sweet potato is a swollen adventitious root.

Answer: C

Pollen grains are produced in the flower, in the anthers of the stamens.

Each pollen grain is the male gametophyte, containing the cells that will produce the male gametes. The anther's four pollen sacs release it when they split open.

Answer: C

Taxonomy deals with the identification, nomenclature and classification of organisms.

Linnaeus founded it with the binomial system, in which each species has a two-part Latin name. Ecology studies organisms in relation to their surroundings, and toxicology the effects of poisons.

Answer: D

The term biology was coined independently by Lamarck and Treviranus, both in 1802.

Lamarck used it in France and Gottfried Treviranus in Germany, in each case for a new science of living things that would unite botany and zoology under one set of principles.

Answer: C

Homologous structures are different in different animals but are modifications of the same basic structure.

The forelimb of a man, a bat, a whale and a horse has the same bones in the same order, adapted to grasping, flying, swimming and running. That shared plan is what points to a shared ancestor.

Answer: A

Milk is a poor source of iron.

It supplies calcium, phosphorus, protein and B vitamins in quantity, but almost no iron - which is why infants fed on milk alone beyond about six months become anaemic and need iron-rich weaning foods.

Answer: A

Shifting cultivation is not a method of ex situ conservation - it is a farming practice, and one that destroys habitat.

Ex situ conservation keeps species outside their natural home: botanical gardens, zoos, seed banks, field gene banks and cryopreservation. In situ conservation protects them where they live, in parks and sanctuaries.

Answer: A

The scientific name of man is Homo sapiens, meaning wise man.

Under the binomial system the first word is the genus and the second the species; the genus is capitalised, the species is not, and both are italicised. Rana tigrina is the Indian bullfrog and Felis domestica the cat.

Answer: D

An adult human has about 5 to 6 litres of blood, roughly 7 to 8 per cent of body weight.

Men average nearer 5.5 litres and women about 4.5. Losing more than about a fifth of it causes shock.