9Aa-1 Environmental variation Name Class Date 1 What resources do plants need from their habitats? Tick ( ) four boxes. water salt light rocks wind slugs mineral salts warmth 2 Draw lines to match the words with their meanings. characteristic environment environmental factor environmental variation physical environmental factor The conditions in a habitat. Differences between organisms caused by environmental factors. A feature of an organism. Something non-living in an organism s surroundings that can change it. Anything that can change the conditions in a habitat or the organisms that live there. 3 a Look at the drawing of Jodie. Circle the examples of environmental variation. b State one of Jodie s characteristics that shows continuous variation. c State one of Jodie s characteristics that shows discontinuous variation. 4 Leopards and tigers are different species. Very rarely they can breed with one another to produce tigards. What will tigards not be able to do, which their parents can? 5 Flamingo birds feed on algae and shrimps, which both contain substances called carotenoids. Flamingo livers break down the carotenoids to form pink compounds, which colour the feathers. Flamingos that cannot find algae or shrimps can eat insects, which don t contain carotenoids. a Some flamingos are white. What environmental factor has caused this? b How might white flamingos have confused those who first saw them? explain how environmental variation can cause problems with classification. purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free. 1
9Aa-2 Seeds and acid rain 1 Name Class Date Your teacher may watch to see if you can: work accurately. Introduction Rainwater is naturally acidic because it contains dissolved carbon dioxide. It may also contain sulfuric acid produced from sulfur dioxide, which gets into the air when sulfur impurities in fossil fuels combust. It can also contain nitric acid produced by nitrogen oxides from vehicle engines. Hypothesis How well plant seeds germinate depends on the acidity of rainwater. Prediction 1 Read the method below and write a prediction. Method Apparatus selection of acids labels marker pen beakers Petri dishes ruler measuring cylinder cress seeds tweezers/forceps universal indicator paper eye protection cotton wool (or paper towels) Wash your hands after setting up your dishes. Do not eat any of the cress seedlings or the seeds. Wear eye protection. A Decide what types of acid you are going to use. B Place some cotton wool or layers of paper towel in the bottom of each Petri dish. C Label each dish with the type of acid that it will contain. D Add enough acid so that the cotton wool/paper towel is thoroughly wet. E Use forceps to hold pieces of universal indicator paper and dip them into the acid in each dish. Record the ph of each acid. F Use forceps to place cress seeds in each dish. You will need to decide how many seeds you are going to use. G Cover the Petri dishes and leave them in a well-lit area for a few days. 2 a What acids did you use? b Why did you choose these acids? 3 a How many seeds did you put in each dish? b Why did you choose this number of seeds? purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free. 2 Page 1 of 2
9Aa-2 Seeds and acid rain 1 Recording your results 4 Record your results in this table. Type of acid and/or ph Number of cress seeds used Number of seeds that germinated Percentage of seeds that germinated Considering your results/conclusions You may only be able to answer question 5 or question 6. 5 a Does the type of acid have an effect on the germination of cress seeds? b What is this effect? 6 a Does the ph of an acid have an effect on the germination of cress seeds? b What is this effect? Evaluation 7 a How reproducible are your results? b Why is evidence of better quality if it is reproducible? 8 Suggest another scientific question that this investigation has made you think about. calculate percentages evaluate my investigation. purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free. 3 Page 2 of 2
9Aa-3 Seeds and acid rain 2 Aim To find out how acids affect the germination of seeds. Introduction Acid rain could affect the life cycles of plants by affecting how they grow or by affecting the germination of seeds. You can investigate seed germination using cress seeds. Planning Wash your hands after setting up your dishes. Do not eat any of the cress seedlings or the seeds. Wear eye protection. Do your planning with the others in your group. You will need to discuss the following things. 1 Variables: what could you change about an acidic solution that might affect the germination of seeds? 2 Choose one or two independent variables to test. What effects do you think your variables have? Explain your thoughts by writing hypotheses, using the phrase depends on. a How will you change your independent variables? b What dependent variable will you measure? c How many measurements will you take? What spread of measurements will you make? d What apparatus will you need and how will you set it up? e How many seeds will you use? f What control variables will you keep the same? 3 How will you and those around you stay safe? 4 Now discuss your plan with the other groups in your class. Agree on the best method. Prediction 5 Write down what you think will happen and explain why you think this will happen. Recording your results 6 Present your results in a table. Considering your results/conclusions 7 Process your data by calculating the percentages of seeds that germinated. 8 Draw a chart or graph to show the results. 9 Do your results match your prediction? If not, how do they differ? Evaluation 10 How would you improve your experiment? Explain your reasoning. present my results clearly calculate percentages use observations to draw a conclusion. purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free. 4
9Aa-4 In the garden Name Class Date 1 Look at the picture of the garden. Find different examples of environmental variation. Circle each example of variation and fill in the table to show which environmental factor you think caused it. The first one has been done for you. flattened plants Environmental variation Environmental factor that caused it fallen tree branch 2 From your list of variations, find one example of environmental variation that is continuous and one example that is discontinuous. Add these to the chart below. Continuous variation Discontinuous variation describe variation as continuous or discontinuous. purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free. 5
9Aa-5 More environmental variation Name Class Date 1 For each example of environmental variation in the table, suggest an environmental factor that has caused it. Environmental variation person with a suntan plant with holes in leaves wilted plant tree with a hole in it person with big muscles tree growing at an angle Possible environmental factor 2 Use the words in the box below to complete the paragraph. You can use the words more than once. environmental factors organism physical species variation A living thing is called an. Different types of organism are called. There is a lot of between different species. Some variation is caused by in an organism s surroundings. These are called and they cause. Some of these factors are other organisms but others are non-living factors, and these are called. 3 a Is the data shown in bar chart A continuous, discontinuous or neither? b Is the data shown in line graph B continuous, discontinuous or neither? describe variation as continuous or discontinuous. purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free. 6
9Aa-6 Environmental variation in plants 1 Hostas are popular garden plants. The information below was found on a gardening website. Use the information to draw a table to show five different environmental variations and the environmental factors that caused them. Hostas should be planted in slightly acidic soil or they will not reach their full height. They require regular watering but the soil needs to drain easily. If the soil becomes water-logged, then diseases caused by fungi (such as crown rot) are likely. Hostas prefer shaded conditions and should be sheltered from the wind. Wind and sunlight both tend to dry out the leaves, causing them to turn brown. Also note that hostas are a favourite for slugs and snails! 2 In an experiment, ryegrass plants were grown in different levels of light by three different groups. Once they had grown, their leaf lengths were measured. The table shows the results. Light level (lux) Leaf length (cm) Light level (lux) Leaf length (cm) Light level (lux) Leaf length (cm) 3000 13 3000 10 3000 13 6000 17 6000 15 6000 15 9000 23 9000 18 9000 19 20 000 21 20 000 20 20 000 24 a What was the environmental factor in this experiment? b Plot all the results on a scatter graph. c What is the relationship between light level and leaf length? d Suggest a reason for this relationship. e Is the dependent variable in this experiment continuous, discontinuous or neither? 3 Anthocyanins are red pigments found in some plants. In an experiment, a species of lettuce was grown at different temperatures and the mass of anthocyanin was measured. The results are shown in the table below. a What is a species? b What was the effect of temperature on the colour of the lettuce? c Suggest how this effect could cause problems when classifying lettuces. Daytime temp. ( C) Mass of anthocyanin per kg of plant (mg) 20 58.1 25 25.3 30 3.1 explain how environmental variation can cause problems for classification. purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free. 7
9Aa-7 Do starlings learn? The things that we do are called behaviours. Differences in the behaviours of different people are most often due to their environments. We say that these sorts of behaviours are learned behaviours. We are, however, born with some types of behaviour such as blinking our eyes if something suddenly appears in front of us. These behaviours are said to be innate behaviours. Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) are common birds in the UK. They can often be seen pulling small invertebrates out of lawns. Scientists at the University of Bristol wanted to see if starlings could learn from each other. They used the apparatus shown in the diagram. The scientists took a few starlings from the wild and trained them to open the lid on a box to get mealworms to eat. They trained some birds to pull off the lid and others to push in the lid. Once trained, they took more starlings from the wild. These observer starlings were put into a separate compartment in the same cage as a trained starling, which they could see through a mesh. The observer starling watched the trained starling opening the lid. Then the observer starling was put into the cage on its own, along with a box of mealworms. Sixteen observer starlings watched trained starlings push in the lid to get mealworms. Of these, only one tried pulling on the lid; the rest all pushed. Fourteen observer starlings watched trained starlings pull off the lid. Half of these pushed on the lid and the other half pulled on the lid. Data source: T.W. Fawcett et al., (2002) Animal behaviour 64: 547 556. 1 a Explain why speaking French is an example of environmental variation. b Is this innate or learned behaviour? 2 In the experiment above, why did the scientists use so many observer birds? 3 a Draw a table to show the results of the investigation described above. b Do you think starlings can learn from one another? Explain your reasoning. c How does showing these results as a table make it easier to see any trends? 4 Some scientists have suggested that either pulling or pushing might be a more innate behaviour starlings might be more naturally inclined to do one rather than the other. a Which action (pushing or pulling) do you think is more innate? Explain your reasoning. b How valid is the evidence from the experiment in supporting this conclusion? c Suggest a simple experiment to collect more valid evidence for your conclusion in part a. 5 Suggest how learning from one another may be an advantage for starlings. 6 a Describe two human innate behaviours. b Suggest two learned behaviours in animals, apart from humans or starlings. c How is each behaviour you described in parts a and b useful? describe variation in animal behaviour as being environmental (learned) or inherited (innate) describe how a learned behaviour can be beneficial to an organism. purchasing institution only. This material is not copyright free. 8