CHAPTER 1
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1.1
B: Due to features that they possess, koalas are well suited to the environment in which they
are naturally found.
1.2
a.
A marsupial is a mammal in which the development of the young is completed
outside the body, usually in an abdominal pouch.
b.
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
c.
Should include three of the following:
Evaporative water loss to cool body – panting rapidly and licking forelimbs.
Production of very concentrated urine.
Nocturnal.
Reproductive activities – in good seasons the female can have a large joey at heel
with a smaller joey in the pouch and a dormant embryo in the uterus in reserve; at the
onset of drought the pouch joey usually dies; with resumption of rain the dormant
embryo rapidly begins development.
a.
Autotroph: an organism capable of producing organic compounds from simple
organic molecules.
Heterotroph: an organism that must obtain its organic compounds from other
organisms.
b.
Anaerobic respiration occurs in the absence of oxygen whereas aerobic respiration
(which releases most of the energy bound in glucose) occurs in the presence of
oxygen.
c.
Movement is the change in position or an organism or part of the organism whereas
locomotion only refers to the movement of the whole organism from one position to
another as a result of its actions.
d.
Excretion is the removal of metabolic wastes from the body cells to the external
environment whilst egestion is the removal of undigested food from the digestive
tract.
e.
Growth refers to the increase in size of an organism. Development refers to the
changes an organism undergoes to reach the adult form.
f.
Asexual reproduction involves only one individual, with the offspring being identical
to the ‘parent’. In sexual reproduction the offspring result from the fusion of gametes
from two different parents giving variation of characteristics.
g.
An organism that is alive can carry out life processes. When it is no longer able to
perform these functions it is dead.
h.
Organic compounds all contain carbon, usually as complex molecules linked with
hydrogen, oxygen or other elements, formed by living things. Inorganic compounds
are all other compounds.
1.3
D
A
C, D, G
B
E, F
1
i.
Matter is anything that takes up space and has mass whereas energy is a property of
matter which enables it to do work.
1.4
Activities within the organism result in some of the chemical energy of the body being
converted to heat energy which is released to the external environment. This loss of energy
from the body must be replaced for the organism to maintain its functions.
1.5
Should include three of the following:
Herbivore
eats plants, e.g. cow eats grass.
Carnivore
kills and eats other animals, e.g. dingo eats rabbits.
Omnivore
eats both plant and animal matter, e.g. bandicoot eats grubs and plant roots.
Parasite
feeds on living matter (host) without killing it, e.g. flea feeds on dog’s
blood.
Scavenger
feeds on dead organisms, e.g. crows feed from road kills etc.
Decomposer
feeds on dead matter, breaking down all of the organic chemicals and
releasing simple inorganic chemicals back into the environment, e.g. fungi
decompose dead trees.
1.6
The automobile cannot perform the functions described without the intervention of a person. It
is not able to maintain itself, grow or reproduce.
1.7
A donor is an individual who supplies an organ for transplant, while the recipient receives it.
1.8
The cells of the individual recognise the transplant as being non-self and thus establish a
reaction which rejects the transplant.
1.9
Quantitative data involves measurements which result in a numerical value. Qualitative data is
descriptive.
1.10
The explanation for the observations are tested under controlled conditions.
1.11
Observations  facts  questions  hypothesis  controlled experiments  results 
rejection or acceptance of the hypothesis.
1.12
Further discoveries may lead to more accurate means of observing, testing or interpreting
information.
1.13
An extraneous variable is any condition which has not been taken into account during an
experiment. The extraneous, not the experimental, variable may be the cause of any difference
between the experimental or control condition or may result in atypical results in both the
experimental or control groups.
1.14
The hypothesis is a statement that attempts to answer the question(s) raised by observations.
A ruling hypothesis is the most successful hypothesis for a particular investigation. A theory
is a broad generalisation drawing together many facts based on ruling hypotheses.
1.15
Open ended – many possible methods, e.g.:
Test a large number of dogs of the same age, sex, health and physical condition. Keep them in
identical conditions. Feed half the dogs on the new dog food and half on ‘standard’ food for a
period of time. Then at feed time introduce a bowl of the normal food and a bowl of the new
dog food. Record which bowl the dog first selects to feed from. Repeat this procedure over
many days.
2