NAME: _________________________ Po Leung Kuk Choi Kai Yau School

2016-2018
CLASS: __________
Year 9 IGCSE Biology
Organism and Environment
Syllabus Statements
Checklist
Core
• State that the Sun is the principal source of energy input to biological systems
• Define a food chain as showing the transfer of energy from one organism to the next,
beginning with a producer
• State that energy is transferred between organisms in a food chain by ingestion
• Construct simple food chains and Define a food web as a network of interconnected
food chains
• Define producer as an organism that makes its own organic nutrients, usually using
energy from sunlight, through photosynthesis
• Define consumer as an organism that gets its energy by feeding on other organisms
• State that consumers may be classed as primary, secondary and tertiary according to
their position in a food chain
• Define herbivore as an animal that gets its energy by eating plants
• Define carnivore as an animal that gets its energy by eating other animals
• Define decomposer as an organism that gets its energy from dead or waste organic
material
• Interpret food chains and food webs in terms of identifying producers and consumers
• Use food chains and food webs to describe the impacts humans have through over-
harvesting of food species and through introducing foreign species to a habitat
• Draw, describe and interpret pyramids of numbers
• Describe the carbon cycle, limited to photosynthesis, respiration, feeding,
decomposition, fossilization and combustion
• Discuss the effects of the combustion of fossil fuels and the cutting down of forests on
the carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere
• Describe the water cycle, limited to evaporation, transpiration, condensation and
precipitation
• Define population as a group of organisms of one species, living in the same area, at
the same time

• Identify and state the factors affecting the rate of population growth for a population of
an organism, limited to food supply, predation and disease
• Discuss the increase in human population size over the past 250 years and its social
and environmental implications
• Interpret graphs and diagrams of human population growth

Letts IGCSE revision guide 2016.

Biology at Glance ,Judy Dodds. 2015.CRC press
IGCSE revision guide Cambridge. 2016
P.1 Adopted from Cambridge IGCSE Biology 0610. Syllabus for examination in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
 Organism and Environment
Syllabus Statements
Checklist
Supplement
• Describe the flow of energy through living organisms including light energy from the
sun and chemical energy in organisms and its eventual transfer to the environment
• Describe how energy is transferred between trophic levels
• Define trophic level as the position of an organism in a food chain, food web, pyramid
of numbers or pyramid of biomass
• Explain why the transfer of energy from one trophic level to another is inefficient

• Explain why food chains usually have fewer than five trophic levels

• Explain why there is a greater efficiency in supplying plants as human food, and that
there is a relative inefficiency in feeding crop plants to livestock that will be used as
food
• Identify producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers
and quaternary consumers as the trophic levels in food webs, food chains, pyramids
of numbers and pyramids of biomass
• Draw, describe and interpret pyramids of biomass
• Discuss the advantages of using a pyramid of biomass rather than a pyramid of
numbers to represent a food chain
• Describe the nitrogen cycle in terms of:
o decomposition of plant and animal protein to ammonium ions
o Nitrification
o nitrogen fixation by lightning and bacteria
o absorption of nitrate ions by plants
o production of amino acids and proteins
o feeding and digestion of proteins
o deamination
o Denitrification

• State the roles of microorganisms in the nitrogen cycle, limited to decomposition,

nitrification, nitrogen fixation and denitrification (generic names of individual bacteria,
e.g. Rhizobium, are not required)

• Define community as all of the populations of different species in an ecosystem

• Define ecosystem as a unit containing the community of organisms and their

environment, interacting together, e.g. a decomposing log, or a lake

• Identify the lag, exponential (log), stationary and death phases in the sigmoid
population growth curve for a population growing in an environment with limited
resources
• Explain the factors that lead to each phase in the sigmoid curve of population growth,
making reference, where appropriate, to the role of limiting factors

Biology at Glance ,Judy Dodds. 2015.CRC press

Adopted from Cambridge IGCSE Biology 0610. Syllabus for examination in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
State that the Sun is the principal source of energy input to biological systems
Define a food chain as showing the transfer of energy from one organism to the next, beginning
with a producer

Definitions

Food chain

Food Web

Producer

Consumer

Herbivore

Carnivore

Decomposer

Diagram below shows an example of Food chain and Food Web.

What is the problem of analyzing Food Chain only?

P.2
Identify producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers and quaternary
consumers as the trophic levels in food webs, food chains, pyramids of numbers and pyramids of
biomass

Example :- Woodland Habitat: An oak wood supports a varied community

Food Web

Answer the following questions using the food web above.

Write down the longest food chain in the given food web.

Name two secondary and two primary consumers.

How many tertiary consumers are shown in the web?

If all mice died, how will it effect the food web?

P.3
Describe the flow of energy through living organisms including light energy from the sun and chemical
energy in organisms and its eventual transfer to the environment and how energy is transferred between
trophic levels.

Explain how the energy from sunlight enters the food chain and return to the environment eventually at
the end? (Hint: how is energy trapped, energy transferred within trophic level and lost as?)

The diagram on side shows

an example food web.

Food web can be used to

predict what might happen to
the system due to human
influence.

Answer the following question

using the food web given.

Predict what might happen if humans eat all the rabbits? (comment on population)

How will the populations of the species in the food web be affected if humans introduce new species that
compete with tertiary consumers?

Which organism is missing in the food web? (hint: it helps release energy back to environment)

P.6
Explain why the transfer of energy from one trophic level to another is inefficient and why do they have
fewer than five trophic levels

The diagram above shows the energy transfer between trophic levels.

The amount of energy passing from one group of organism to the next gets less the further you go along
a food chain. Why does this happens?

Used by organism:

Energy lost:

Uneaten:

The efficiency of energy transfer is a measure of the proportion of energy in one trophic level that is
passed to next trophic level which is 10%
Knowing the information above, Why do you think most food chains have max five trophic levels?

Explain why there is a greater efficiency in supplying plants as human food, and that there is a relative
inefficiency in feeding crop plants to livestock that will be used as food

Energy enters food chain from sun, when cow (livestock) eats grass, energy passes to bow but great
deal is lost at each feeding level. We get energy from food we eat.

A: Food produced : 0.2 tonnes of meat

B: Food produced: 40 tonnes of potato
Using the information of energy transfer you have learnt, explain why
having a vegetarian diet is more efficient? (refer to diagrams)

P.7
 Identify producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers and quaternary consumers
as the trophic levels in food webs, food chains, pyramids of numbers and pyramids of biomass

Pyramid of numbers: size depends on ______________ Pyramid of biomass : size depends on ______________

_____________________________________________ _____________________________________________

List an example of the food chain which will have

unusual pyramid of numbers? Define dry mass?

What is the problem of using the pyramid of numbers in What are the problems of using pyramid of
ecology? biomass?

Draw, describe and interpret the pyramid of biomass

Why is biomass at each trophic level above, lower than

the trophic level below?

Give an example food chain/ web with inverted pyramid

of biomass.

P.8
Describe the carbon cycle, limited to photosynthesis, respiration, feeding, decomposition,
fossilisation and combustion
Overview of carbon cycle

Which process removed the CO2 from atmosphere (only process)

How does the fossilization contribute to CO2 concentration in atmosphere? (refer to human activity)

Human activities result in clearing of huge forest areas for the production of wood and food. What impact this
might have on carbon cycle. (Comment on the intake and outtake)

P.12
Describe the water cycle, limited to evaporation, transpiration, condensation and precipitation

Overview of water cycle

State the importance of water to the living organisms

How is water lost through plants?

Define precipitation. How are the clouds formed?

P.13
Describe the nitrogen cycle, outline the role of microorganisms in the cycle

Overview of nitrogen cycle

Define the following terms. State the bacteria involved in the process in relation with nitrogen cycle(if
applicable)

Nitrogen fixation

Nitrification

Deamination

Denitrification

Saprobiotic

The legumes plant are able to grow without the input of nitrate fertilizers. How do they get their nitrogen?

P.14
Define population, community and ecosystem.
Definitions
Population

Community

Ecosystem

Explain how the communities and ecosystems are connected?

Identify and state the factors affecting the rate of population growth for a population of an organism, limited to
food supply, predation and disease
Number of organisms in population stay fairly constant over long period of time. It will fluctuate but overall
change will be minimal (often)

Example population growth Factors affecting population number

List three factors that can affect the population growth?

Imagine a small fish population introduced in the lake system. Explain why there population might grow
exponentially for first few years and why would it eventually stop?

P.17
Identify and state the factors affecting the rate of population growth for a population of an organism, limited to
food supply, predation and disease

Predator – Prey interaction Rabbit and Fox population cycle over years

Predator-Prey interactions often see a seasonal fluctuation in population. Refer to the figure showing the
interaction of paramecium-yeast and explain the population trend seen in rabbit-fox cycle.

One population control the size of others:

1:

2:

3:

Identify the lag, exponential (log), stationary and death phases in the sigmoid population growth curve for a
population growing in an environment with limited resources

Sigmoid population growth

curve

Using (Yeast in sugar solution Flask) or (Rabbits introduced in new island) as an example, Explain what happens at
each phase of the curve.
Lag phase:

Log / exponential phase:

Stationary phase:

Death phase:
P.18
 Discuss the increase in human population size over the past 250 years and its social and environmental
implications

What are the reasons behind the increase in human population over recent years?

List two social implications of human population growth?

List two environmental implications of human population growth?

Looking at the graph given above, identify the phase of human population growth that we are currently
experiencing.

Apart from human population growth, Give ONE example of situation where this growth curve can be seen?

P.19