Year 9

1. The diagram below shows a food web for a wood.

(a) The diagrams below show a pyramid of the numbers and a pyramid of the biomass for 0.1 hectare of
this wood.

(i) Name one organism from the level labelled X.

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(1)

Andy Todd
 (ii) Explain, as fully as you can, why the level labelled Y is such a different width in the two pyramids.
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(3)

(b) Explain, as fully as you can, what eventually happens to energy from the sun which is captured by the
plants in the wood.

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(10)
(Total 14 marks)

2.(a) What organisms are used as Bio-indicators of water pollution?

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b. Name 3 examples of bio-indicators for Air pollution.

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c. Explain how algal bloom occurs in a fresh water habitat.

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8 marks

3. The passage describes the consequences of air pollution.

Complete the passage by writing a suitable word or words on each dotted line.
(10)
The release of the sulphur ................................................................................... into the

atmosphere is an example of air pollution because the gas dissolves in water in air

to form ................................................................................... rain. This rain can kill trees on land and fish in lakes.

Another gas that pollutes the air is ...................................................................................

monoxide. This gas

combines with ................................................................................... in red blood cells and makes it more difficult for them to
carry out their function.

Other gases that pollute the atmosphere are greenhouse gases such as ........................................................................

and nitrous oxide from the burning of ................................................................................... fuels,

and ................................................................................... from the digestive system of cattle.

These gases increase the ................................................................................... effect and may lead to a problem
known as ................................................................................... in which the earth temperature may rise.

This rise in air temperature may destroy the place where a species lives

known as its ................................................................................... .

(Total for question = 10 marks)

4. The diagram shows part of a food web in an oak forest.

(a) Use the information in the food web to complete the statements in the table.
The first one has been done for you.

(4)
(b) (i) What effect would a decrease in the population size of caterpillars have on the population size of
blue jays?
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(ii) What is meant by the term population?

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(c) The tick feeds on deer by sucking their blood.

Name two different molecules that are found in the blood of deer that the tick could
feed on.

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(Total for question = 8 marks)

5. The diagram below shows a food web for some of the organisms which live in a pond.

(a) (i) Name one secondary consumer in this food web.

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(1)

(ii) The algae are small green plants.

Give three conditions needed by green plants to produce sugars.

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(3)

(b) This is a pyramid of biomass for the organisms in the aquarium.

Some of the biomass of the producers is not transferred to the tertiary consumers.
 Explain, as fully as you can, what happens to this biomass.

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(6) (Total 10 marks)

6. The diagram below shows a food web for some of the organisms which live in a pond.

You may need to use information from the food web to help you to answer the following
questions.

(a) The algae photosynthesise. Complete the equation for photosynthesis.

carbon
+ + light energy sugar +
dioxide

(2)
 (b) Only a small percentage of the Sun’s energy captured by the algae is eventually
incorporated into the body tissues of the stickleback. Explain, as fully as you can,
what happens to the rest of the energy captured by the algae.

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(8)
(Total 10 marks)

7.

The diagram shows the flow of energy through a forest. The figures are in kilojoules of
energy per square metre per year.

(a) What percentage of the energy in the trees is passed on as food for the carnivores?
Show clearly how you work out your final answer.
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(2)

(b) Give three reasons why so little of the energy in the trees is passed on to the
carnivores.

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(3)
(Total 5 marks)

8. The photograph shows a bird called a parakeet.

(a) (i) Parakeets eat seeds.

Parakeets can be eaten by birds of prey called raptors.

Use this information to draw a food chain.

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(ii) Many seeds contain starch.

Suggest what happens to starch in the gut of a parakeet.

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9. The diagram shows the annual energy flow through 1 m2 of a habitat.

The unit, in each case, is kJ per m2 per year.

(a) Calculate the percentage of the energy absorbed by the grass from sunlight that is
transferred to the frog.

Show clearly how you work out your answer.

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Answer ....................................................... %
(2)

(b) All of the energy the grass absorbs from the sun is eventually lost to the
surroundings.

In what form is this energy lost?

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(c) Food chains are usually not more than five organisms long.

Explain why.
 To gain full marks you must use data from the diagram.

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(d) In this habitat microorganisms help to recycle materials.

Explain how.

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(3)
(Total 8 marks)

10. The world’s rainforests could completely vanish in a hundred years at the current rate of
deforestation.

(a) Suggest two reasons why humans are removing rainforest.

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(b) (i) Explain how deforestation can change the balance of gases in the atmosphere.
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(ii) Suggest how deforestation can change the soil structure.

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(c) Suggest how countries can reduce the impact of deforestation.

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(Total for Question = 8 marks)