Biology IGCSE Notes

Biology IGCSE NOTES
Chapter 1 (Characteristics of living organisms):

Movement, Respiration, Sensitivity, Growth, Reproduction, Excretion, Nutrition
Humans -> Homo(genus) Sapiens(specie)
Kingdom → Phylum → Classes → Orders → Families → Genus → Species.
Kingdom (Animals, plants, fungi, prokaryotes, protist)
Chapter 6 (Plant nutrition):
Cuticle: Prevents water loss

Upper/lower mesophyll: allow sunlight to enter
Palisade mesophyll: Contains chloroplasts that trap sunlight
Spongy mesophyll: Allows gas exchange to take place
Vascular bundle: xylem and phloem
Stomata: Allows gas exchange during transpiration and respiration
Guard cells: Control opening and closing of stomata
Chapter 7 (Human nutrition):

Digestive system
Assimilation: absorption and use of nutrients by cells
Salivary glands: produce saliva(amylase)
Stomach: has pepsin(protease) breaks down protein to amino acids
Small intestine:
-Duodenum: Fats are emulsified by bile, digested by lipase. Amylase and
trypsin(protease) breaks down starch
-ileum: has maltase that converts maltose to glucose, where absorption take
place
-Has villi with microvilli, epithelium(one cell thick with increase rate of diffusion),
lacteals(absorb fatty acids and glycerol), capillaries(supply blood, steep
concentration gradient)
-Where most water is absorbed
Chapter 8 (Plant transportation):

Transpiration: loss of water, evaporates from surface of mesophyll cells and
diffuse out of stomata
-Causes water molecules that are held by force of attraction to be pulled up the
xylem.
-it's rate increases if temperature and wind speed increase, humidity decreases.
Translocation: movement of sucrose and amino acids in the phloem from
source to sink.
Chapter 9 (Animal transportation):
Right atrium: collect deoxygenated blood, pump to right ventricle

Right ventricle: pumps deoxygenated to lungs
Pulmonary artery: carry deoxygenated blood to lungs
Septum: Separates the left side(oxygenated) and right side(deoxygenated)
Pulmonary vein: Carry oxygenated blood to left atrium
Left atrium: collect oxygenated blood, pump to left ventricle
Left ventricle: pumps oxygenated blood to all parts of the body.
Aorta: Carries oxygenated blood to body
Vena cava: Carries deoxygenated blood to the right atrium
Lymphatic vessel (transport of lymph or lymphocytes or white blood cells)
fibrinogen>fibrin, forms a mesh and trap red blood cells)
Plasma: transport nutrients,ions,hormones,waste,enzymes
White blood cells:
Phagocyte (irregular shaped, contains enzymes, engulfs pathogens)
Lymphocytes (circular, creates antibodies (must be exactly complementary)
(binds to pathogens for them to be engulf)
Chapter 10 (Disease and immunity):

Mechanical barriers: Nostril hairs (traps dust), skin with outer layer of dead cells
Chemical barriers: Mucus (traps pathogens), hydrochloric acid (kills bacteria)
Passive immunity (Acquired from something/someone else)

Natural: From mother to baby (breast milk)
Artificial: From medicine
Short term, memory cells not made
Active immunity (Acquired after being exposed to infection or vaccine)
Natural: Exposure to infection
Artificial: Antibodies made after vaccine
Long term, memory cells made
Chapter 11 (Gas exchange):

Lungs has bronchus that branches out into bronchioles with alveoli(air sacs
where gas exchange happens)
Chapter 12 (Respiration):
Aerobic respiration: oxygen + glucose = carbon dioxide + water
6O2 + C6H12O6 → 6CO2 + 6H2O
Anaerobic respiration (without oxygen)(less energy released):
In yeast: glucose → ethanol + carbon dioxide
In muscles: glucose → lactic acid
Chapter 13 (Excretion):
Nitrogen in protein is removed in the liver (deamination), sent to the kidney as
urea.
Ultrafiltration: Water, urea, salts and glucose enter the bowman’s capsule where
blood and large protein cannot enter.
Selective reabsorption: reabsorption of glucose,some water and salt in the
proximal tubule (active transport)
Loop of Henle: reabsorbs excess water and salt (osmosis)
concentration of ions is then regulated in the distal tubule.
Remaining substances move to the collecting duct (forming urine)
Chapter 14 (Coordination and response):

Homeostasis:
Too hot → skin blood vessels (arteriole) increase in size(vasodilation) to
maximize surface area to cool down. Sweat is secreted which evaporates(taking
heat energy)
Too cold → arterioles decrease in size(vasoconstriction), minimizing surface area
and heat loss. Shivering causes rapid movement
High blood sugar → insulin secreted, convert glucose to glycogen
Low blood sugar → glucagon secreted, convert glycogen to glucose
Hormones: (long term effect, slower, travel by blood)
Secreted by endocrine gland, alters the activity of an organ
Adrenaline → produced by adrenal glands, cause faster heart rate, faster and
deeper breathing, pupil to dilate, glycogen to glucose conversion
Central nervous system (Brain and spinal cord)

Peripheral nervous system (nerves)
Transmitter molecules at synapse:

1. They are release from the vesicles
2. They enter the synaptic gap
3. They diffuse across the synaptic gap
4. They bind with receptor proteins
Tropism:
Phototropism (positive: growth towards light, negative: growth away from light)
Gravitropism (positive: growth towards gravity, negative:growth away from
gravity)
The side that receives less light will cause more auxin that is produced at the tip
to reach there, causing the plant to curve towards the light.
Eye:
Cornea: reflects light into the eye
Pupil: controls amount of light allowed to enter, constrict when bright, dilate when
dim
Lens: adjust formation of image
Retina: Has rods(detect light) and cones(detect color)
Fovea:where image falls, contains high density of cones
CCC: Cillary, close, contract

SCCRR: small pupil, Circular, contract, radial, relax
Chapter 15 (Drugs)
Substance taken in that modifies or affects chemical reactions.
Antibiotics(made by fungi or bacteria) only work on bacteria(disrupt their
structure/function/ability to reproduce) as they have cell walls(carbohydrates)
Bacteria become immune by
1. Not all cells are killed, few bacterial cells are left
2. They will mutate and be genetically modified
3. There will be a change in the bases the genetic material
4. Lead to new offsprings with new genetic material (binary fission)
Chapter 16 (Reproduction)
Asexual reproduction: (genetically identical offspring) (Bacteria uses binary
fission)
More time and energy efficient, no need of gametes but cannot adapt(to
diseases/changes), cannot control rate of reproduction)
Sexual reproduction: (requires 2 parents, use haploid cells(23 chromosomes))
Has more genetic variation, disease is less likely to affect population but takes
more time and requires a mate)
Mitosis: doubling of cell division (multiplication)
Meiosis: (only in sex cells) (reduction division)
-it first doubles into 2 cells(46 each) (mitosis)
-then each cell is divided into 2 (4 cells)(23 each)
Male reproductive system:

Testes: Produces sperm
Scrotum: holds testicles
Sperm duct: carries sperm from testicles to urethra
Prostate gland: makes seminal fluid
Urethra: carries semen from the sperm duct to out the penis
Chapter 17 (Inheritance):
How a protein is made (protein synthesis):

Firstly, transcription is where the dna copy in the nucleus is copied onto the Mrna
as it is being uncoiled, making them parallel. THe copy will have the
complementary of the genes, converting A->U, C->G,G->C and T-> A.
Translation is where the copy will then exit the nucleus, enter the cytoplasm,
where the Mrna will pass the code to the ribosome which converts the bases
back to their original form and assemble the proteins.
Chapter 18 (Variation and selection)
Continuous variation: there are small degrees of difference (height,mass)
Discontinuous variation: distinct differences (blood group, gender)
Mutation (addition(extra chromosome), deletion(missing chromosome),
substitution(changed chromosome) (caused by ionizing radiation/oncogenes)
Adaptations:
Hydrophytes: Large air spaces in leaves, small roots, open stomata
Xerophytes: Thick waxy cuticle, sunken stomata, rolled and small leaf, extensive
shallow roots, thickened leaves/stems
Natural selection: Individuals with more variations survive (will have more
offspring (will inherit better alleles)) Only the fittest will survive.
Chapter 19 (Organisms and their environment):

Trophic levels(producer←primary consumer←secondary consumer←tertiary
consumer)
Bacteria cannot grow at the fermenter for long due to factors such as nutrients or
the rising toxin levels.
Stages of population growth:
Lag, Log, Stationary, decline
Carbon cycle:
-Carbon taken from the atmosphere by photosynthesis(plants)
-It is passed to animals and decomposers by feeding
-Returned by respiration in plants and animals and decomposed by
microorganisms
Nitrogen cycle:
-Nitrogen fixing bacteria provide suitable nitrogen for plants (nitrogen fixation).
-Nitrifying bacteria convert nitrogen-containing substances into better
nitrogen-containing substances for the plants (nitrification).
-Plants absorb these substances and converts them into proteins
-Death and decay leads to stage one
-Denitrifying bacteria converts nitrogen-containing substances into atmospheric
nitrogen (denitrification).
Chapter 20 (Human influence on ecosystem)

Deforestation(Loss of soil, flooding, increased atmospheric carbon dioxide)
Biodiversity: The number of different species in an area
Population: living organisms of a particular specie in one area
Community: different populations of animals in the same area
Ecosystem: an area that has a variety of interacting animals
Chapter 21 (Biotechnology and genetic modification):

Bacteria (multiply very fast, has circular DNA-plasmid, can produce complex
molecules, their genetic code is same with humans)
Fruit juice production (uses pectinase(extracted from A.niger) that breaks down
pectin(in cell wall))
Biological washing powder (has enzymes(denatured at high temp) that break

down large food molecules)
Lactose-free products (lactase(produced from A.niger) is added to breakdown

lactose)
Genetic modification (Inserting a gene from one organism into another)

1. The gene is extracted from human DNA using a restriction enzyme
2. The human gene is inserted into a bacterium using DNA ligase
3. A recombinant plasmid is inserted into a bacterium
4. The bacterium containing the recombinant plasmid replicates

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Biology IGCSE NOTES

Chapter 1 (Characteristics of living organisms):

Chapter 6 (Plant nutrition):

Cuticle: Prevents water loss

Chapter 7 (Human nutrition):

Chapter 8 (Plant transportation):

Right atrium: collect deoxygenated blood, pump to right ventricle

Chapter 10 (Disease and immunity):

Passive immunity (Acquired from something/someone else)

Chapter 11 (Gas exchange):

Chapter 14 (Coordination and response):

Central nervous system (Brain and spinal cord)

Transmitter molecules at synapse:

CCC: Cillary, close, contract

Male reproductive system:

How a protein is made (protein synthesis):

Chapter 19 (Organisms and their environment):

Lag, Log, Stationary, decline

Chapter 20 (Human influence on ecosystem)

Chapter 21 (Biotechnology and genetic modification):

Biological washing powder (has enzymes(denatured at high temp) that break

Lactose-free products (lactase(produced from A.niger) is added to breakdown

Genetic modification (Inserting a gene from one organism into another)

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