INDEX NUMBER:______________
MATRICULATION AND SECONDARY EDUCATION CERTIFICATE EXAMINATIONS BOARD
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA, MSIDA
MATRICULATION CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION
ADVANCED LEVEL
SPECIMEN PAPER
SUBJECT:
PAPER NUMBER:
DATE:
TIME:
BIOLOGY
III
2008-2010
1 hr 30 mins
Answer all questions. Write your answers in the spaces provided.
1. A researcher is investigating the flora and fauna of a rocky shore on the
northern coast of the Maltese Islands. She uses a belt-transect (laddertransect) method to assess variations in abundance of five plant species
with increasing perpendicular distance from the shoreline. The raw data is
recorded in Table 1.
Table 1: abundance of five plant species at increasing perpendicular
distance from the shoreline
Distance from
shore (m)
0-10
10-20
20-30
30-40
40-50
50-60
60-70
70-80
80-90
90-100
Anthemis
urvilleana
Inula
crithmoides
Arthrocnemum
macrostachyum
Crithmum
maritimum
0
0
0
0
2
6
15
23
19
16
0
0
0
4
5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
7
8
6
7
4
0
0
0
0
0
2
6
4
8
10
Limonium
virgatum
0
0
0
0
1
2
1
1
2
1
1.1 Complete the following table:
Total abundance Mean abundance
Anthemis urvilleana
Inula crithmoides
Arthrocnemum macrostachyum
Crithmum maritimum
Limonium virgatum
[five marks]
1
1.2 Suggest another parameter (apart from total abundance and mean
abundance) that may be included in the table above and that would
summarise the degree of variability within the data.
[one mark]
1.3 Using the same scales and axes, summarise the data listed in Table 1 in
graphical form. Use the squared paper at the end of this answer
booklet.
[four marks]
1.4 Which of the species followed in this investigation appears to be the most
specialised? Give ONE reason for your answer.
[two marks]
1.5 Suggest explanations for the observed plant distribution in the following
ranges:
0m – 30m
50m – 100m
[two marks]
1.6 List, and briefly describe, TWO adaptations (structural, physiological or
ecological) that may be characteristic of plants in this ecosystem.
[two marks]
2
1.7 Describe ONE method through which the researcher may assess the size
of animal populations in this ecosystem.
[four marks]
[Total: twenty marks]
2.1 The photo below shows part of a transverse section of a plant stem. On
a separate blank sheet, draw a low power plan of the given section.
Use a X 1.1 scale. No labels or annotations are required.
[ten marks]
3
2.2 Using a separate blank sheet, produce an accurate biological drawing
of the plant cells in the photo. Your drawing should be 1.1 times as large
as the photomicrograph. Do not annotate or label your work.
[ten marks]
3. This question refers to the five organisms shown below, all of which belong
to the Kingdom Animalia.
B
A
4
C
E
D
3.1 Give the Phylum and Class of each one of the organisms portrayed
above.
PHYLUM
CLASS
A
B
C
D
E
[five marks]
5
3.2
For any two of the above organisms give:
(i) one feature typical of the Phylum;
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
[one mark]
(ii)
one feature typical of the class.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
3.3
[one mark]
For specimen B, choose one feature and describe how it adapts the
organism to its mode of life.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
[one mark]
3.4 Construct a dichotomous key based on visible features only, to separate
the organisms from each other.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
[two marks]
6