British Biology Olympiad 2004: Part A Questions
British Biology Olympiad 2004: Part A Questions
British Biology Olympiad 2004: Part A Questions
PART A QUESTIONS
Instructions:
•There are two parts to the test, A and B.
•When you have completed and checked your tests return all the test
materials to the invigilator.
BIOLOGI SEL
1. If an enzyme solution is saturated with substrate, the most effective way to obtain
an even faster yield of products would be to:
A.50
B.12
C. 10
D.2
E.1
3. In a photomicrograph, that had been magnified 3500 times, an organelle measured
12mm. What was the actual length?
A. 3.4 µm
B. 34 µm
C. 420 µm
D. 0.42 µm
E.0.042 µm
4. Which of the biochemical processes listed below take place outside the
mitochondrion?
A. chloroplasts
B. mitochondria
C.ribosomes
D.peroxisomes
E.lysosomes
6. Where in the mitochondrion do the reactions of the electron transport chain occur?
A.primary level
B.secondary level
C.tertiary level
D.quaternary level
E.all structural levels are equally affected
1.ATP
2.NADP
3.enzymes
4.cytochromes
12. A flask of nutrient medium was inoculated with a suspension of yeast cells.
Every two hours a sample of the culture was taken in order to estimate the growth
of the population. The sampling continued after the population had reached the
carrying capacity of the environment.
13. Which one of the following statements about nucleic acids is true?
A. DNA and RNA are isomers because they have the same elemental
composition.
B. Adenine and guanine are purines.
C. Uracil and thymine are pyrimidines with each containing two hexagonal
rings.
D. The sugar-phosphate backbone is held together with hydrogen bonds
E. In any sample of DNA the total amount of adenine plus guanine is equal
to the total amount of cytosine plus uracil.
14. The water potential of three adjacent plant cells was measured as follows:
Cell A (-300kPa); Cell B (-400kPa); Cell C (-500kPa). Which one of the
following statements is true?
16. When radioactively labelled amino acids are introduced into the cells of the
salivary glands of a mammal, the precursors of the amylase which are
subsequently synthesised by the cells are detected first in the
A.Golgi apparatus
B.Messenger RNA
C.Nucleolus
D.Rough endoplasmic reticulum
E.Zymogen granules
17. Select from the list the enzyme that catalyses the following reaction:
pyruvate + reduced NAD lactate + oxidised NAD
A.decarboxylase
B.dehydrogenase
C.hydrolase
D.phosphorylase
E.transferase
18. Which of the following most accurately describes the net directional movement of
molecules when a red blood cell is placed in a hypotonic solution (one of high water
potential)?
1. The rhythmic beating of cardiac muscle in the mammalian heart is initiated by the
A.atrio-ventricular node
B.sympathetic nervous system
C.parasympathetic nervous system
D.Purkinje tissue
E.sino-atrial node
2. The histogram represents the proportions of new-born mammals falling into
various birth weight categories. The line graph represents mortality.
3. If the “threshold” value for glucose reabsorption by the human kidney is 350 mg
per 100 cm
glucose in blood plasma blood
(mg3 per plasma,
100 )which one
cm 3glucose of theplasma
in blood graphs below
(mgcorrectly represents
per 100 cm 3
)
normal kidney function?
4. Injectionexcreted
mg glucose of insulin into diabetics
per 100 cm 3leads to a lowering
of glomerular of their blood sugar levels by
filtrate
per 100 cm 3
of glomerular filtrate
6. The following are all associated with the transport of carbon dioxide by blood
except:
A.carbaminohaemoglobin
B.carboxyhaemoglobin
C.carbonic anhydrase
D.chloride shift
E.hydrogencarbonate
7. All of the following are associated with inspiration in a mammal
except:
8. Which of the following tubes present in the human body is lined with ciliated
epithelium?
A.oviduct
B.artery
C.vein
D.nephron
E.intestine
9. Human blood passes from the inferior vena cava into the right atrium of the heart
during diastole as a result of:
10. Ovulation does not occur during pregnancy in the human female because
A. the follicles are not influenced by the level of progesterone in the blood
B. the corpus luteum and later the placenta produce large amounts of
progesterone
C. the corpus luteum degenerates as luteinising hormone is no longer
produced
D. the embryo produces hormones which directly retard the production of
F SH
E. menstruation does not occur during pregnancy
11. The force for the formation of glomerular filtrate in the kidney is provided by
1. sweating
2. blood redirected nearer to the surface of the body due to closure of
shunt vessels
CO2 uptake
3. panting
4. reducing the thickness of the layer of fat
A. 1 & 2 only; B. 1,2 & 3; C. 1 & 3 only; D. 2 & 3 only; E. 3 & 4 only.
CO 2
production
A.Guard cells
B.Cortical collenchyma cells
C.Spongy mesophyll cells
D.Palisade mesophyll cells
E.Epidermal cells
6. One pollen mother cell may produce four germinating pollen grains, each with
two male nuclei and one tube nucleus. How many meiotic divisions are necessary
to bring this about?
A.none
B.one
C.three
D.four
E. twelve
7. Trees may be damaged by animals which rub against them, wearing away a
strip of bark right around the tree trunk and exposing the xylem. The tree will
then
A. die quickly, because the leaves are deprived of food and water
B. die quickly, because fungi enter the trunk through the
wounds
C. continue to grow, because bark always regrows to cover a
wound
D. die slowly, because the roots cannot replenish their food
reserves
E. die slowly, because the leaves will wilt when deprived of water and
cannot manufacture food.
8. Which of the following effects is brought about by gibberellins but not by auxins?
9. Where in an active chloroplast would you find the highest levels of protons?
A.Stroma
B.Reaction centre
C.Middle lamella
D.Thylakoid membranal space
E.Stalked particles
A. 1 & 2 only; B. 2 & 3 only; C. 3 & 4 only; D. 1,2 & 3; E. 2,3 & 4.
11. Which of the following are required for the light-independent reaction (dark
reaction) of photosynthesis?
1.O2
2.CO 2
3. Chlorophyll a
4.ATP
A. 1, 3 & 4; B. 2, 3 & 4; C. 2 & 4; D. 2 & 3; E. 3 & 4.
12. Three similar sized individuals of a small aquatic plant were collected and placed
into each of three petri dishes, P, Q & R, containing different culture solutions.
After six weeks the plant in dish P had the same number of leaves as it had
previously and they were all small and yellowish. The plant in dish Q had more
leaves and they were normal size and much darker green. The plant in dish R also
had more leaves, of normal size but very pale. Which one of the following shows
which elements were missing from the culture solutions?
P Q R
A.magnesium nitrogen phosphorus
B. magnesium phosphorus nitrogen
C. nitrogen phosphorus magnesium
D. phosphorus magnesium nitrogen
E.phosphorus nitrogen magnesium
Ethology.
A. taxis
B.habituation
C.sign stimulus
D.instinct
E.kinesis
2. Earthworms come to the surface of the soil at night, but if touched they will
retreat into their burrows. This is an example of:
A. taxis
B.tropism
C.simple reflex
D.learned reflex
E.sign stimulus
4. Features of courtship behaviour include all the following except:
1. Manx cats have no tail. Their phenotype is determined by a single gene with two
alleles, normal and Manx. Crosses between Manx cats yield ratios of 2 Manx : 1
normal. This ratio suggests that:
2. Which of the following do mitosis and the second division of meiosis have in
common?
A.zero
B.0.25
C.0.50
D.0.75
E.1.00
5. Which one of the following operations with flowering plants would be most likely
to produce the greatest numbers of variations in the offspring?
A.self pollination
B.cross pollination between a pure line and a hybrid
C.cross pollination between two pure lines
D.cross pollination with another species
E.cross pollination between two hybrids
7. A population’s gene pool was found to have remained unaltered for many
generations. Which of the following conditions must have existed in the
population?
8. Competition, isolation and selection are thought to be events that take place
during the origin of new species. In which order do these events take place in the
process of speciation?
10. The feature of silky feathers in show fowl is caused by a recessive allele. A pure
breeding bird with normal feathers was crossed with a bird with silky feathers and
all the offspring were normal. The offspring were then allowed to interbreed.
Which of the following statements would be true about the F 2 generation?
11. In a disputed paternity case, the following blood groups were identified:
Mother Group AB
Baby Group A
Mr Happy Group O
Mr Go-Lucky Group AB
Ecology.
5. Two bird species feed on small invertebrates lodged in bark crevices on the same
tree but they do not compete for the food resources because of different food
preferences and differing locomotor patterns in foraging behaviour. Each of these
bird species occupies:
A. x, y, z
B. y, z, x
C.z, x, y
D. y, x, z
E.x, z, y
A. all of them;
B.1, 2, 3 & 4 only;
C.2, 3, & 4 only;
D.1, 2, 4 & 5 only;
E.1, 2, 3, & 5 only.
11. Which of the following statements about primary productivity are correct?
1.It determines the total energy flow through an ecosystem
2.It is only carried out by green plants
3.It determines the amount of life which an ecosystem can support
4.Gross productivity minus respiration is equal to net productivity
5.it is only carried out by chemoautotrophs and photoautotrophs
A.symbiotic
B.heterotrophic
C.flagellated
D.pathogenic
E.saprobiontic
2. Two plants which belong to different families must also belong to different
A.classes
B.genera
C.orders
D.phyla
E.superfamilies
4. Mycorrhizae are:
A. dai sy
B. dandelion
C. nettle
D. wheat
E.buttercup
7. The Kingdom Plantae includes all the following except:
A. mosses
B.club mosses
C.horsetails
D. conifers
E. algae
8. Which of the following statements about pairs of taxonomic groups is/are true?