AQA A Level Biology Paper 3 June 2024 question paper 7402/3

In the following passage, each numbered space can be filled with a biological term.

Vaccines can provide protection for individuals and populations against disease. The

Write the correct biological term beside each number below that matches the space in the passage.

There is currently no effective vaccine available for HIV.

Suggest one reason why.

Table 1 shows the action of two antibiotics.

Using the information in Table 1, explain why each antibiotic is not effective against HIV.

A student investigated the effect of temperature on the rate of aerobic respiration in woodlice.

Figure 1 shows the apparatus they used.

The student altered the temperature of the water bath and measured how far the drop of coloured liquid moved every minute for 5 minutes.

Other than those stated, suggest two variables the student should have kept constant in this investigation.

Describe how the student used the apparatus in Figure 1 to reset the drop of coloured liquid back to the right-hand end of the tubing.

The student also set up a control experiment.

Suggest a suitable control experiment and explain why it was necessary.

Control experiment

Figure 2 shows the student’s results at 25 °C

The mass of the woodlice in the tube was 3.78 g

Use Figure 1 (on page 4) and Figure 2 to calculate the mean rate of oxygen uptake

The formula for the volume of the capillary tubing is πr²l.

Use π = 3.14 in your calculation.

Show your working and give your answer to 2 decimal places.

Describe and explain the relationship between surface area to volume ratio of the human body and metabolic rate.

Table 2 shows the height and mass of two adults.

The surface area of a person is estimated using the following formula:

The volume of a person is estimated using the following formula:

Using suitable calculations, deduce which person has the smaller surface area to volume ratio.

Show your working and complete the sentence below.

Give your answer to 3 significant figures.

Which is not a possible explanation for the difference in surface area to volume ratio between person A and person B ?

Tick () one box.

Name two structural features of the gills of a fish that increase their surface area.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a disease resulting in joint damage which causes stiffness.

Scientists investigated the use of a drug called pralnacasan to treat OA in 80 mice.

The scientists:

• injected the knee joints of mice with an enzyme to cause joint damage

• split the mice randomly into 4 equal groups

• fed each group with food containing a different concentration of pralnacasan

• after 6 weeks, assessed the stiffness of the knee joints of the mice and scored them using an arbitrary scale.

Figure 3 shows their results.

Describe how the scientists determined the median of the stiffness scores.

Using all the information, evaluate the use of pralnacasan as an effective treatment for OA in humans.

Leigh syndrome (LS) is a rare, recessive, inherited condition.

LS is caused by a mutation in any one of more than 75 different genes coding for proteins involved in oxidative phosphorylation.

In 80% of people with LS, these mutations occur in nuclear DNA. In 20% of people with LS, these mutations occur in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA).

15% of the nuclear DNA mutations that cause LS occur in the SURF1 gene. A mutated SURF1 gene codes for a shorter polypeptide than a non-mutated SURF1 gene.

Name one type of SURF1 gene mutation and explain how this mutation could lead to production of a shorter polypeptide.

Globally, the frequency of LS is 1 in 40 000

In the Faroe Islands, which are 18 isolated islands, the frequency of LS is 1 in 1700

The population of the Faroe Islands is 49 053

Estimate the number of people in the Faroe Islands with LS caused by a mutation in the SURF1 gene.

Use information in this question and the information on page 12.

Give your answer to the nearest whole number.

Show your working.

The frequency of LS is higher in the Faroe Islands than globally.

Suggest and explain one reason why.

LS usually causes death within the first three years of life.

Using all the information in this question, evaluate whether all people should be genetically screened for LS.

Define the biological term population.

Ecologists monitored the biodiversity of birds in a protected woodland.

They recorded the number of bird species breeding in the woodland on the same day, every year for a 30-year period.

Figure 4 shows their results.

Figure 4

Figure 4 not reproduced here due to third-party copyright restrictions

The figure is taken from the following website:

Figure 1a. Anne E. Magurran, Stephen R. Baillie, Stephen T. Buckland, Jan McP. Dick, David A. Elston, E. Marian Scott, Rognvald I. Smith, Paul J. Somerfield, Allan D. Watt, Long-term datasets in biodiversity research and monitoring: assessing change in ecological communities through time, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Volume 25, Issue 10, 2010, Pages 574-582, ISSN 0169-5347, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2010.06.016.

Which statement correctly represents the species richness of the woodland?

Tick () one box.

A student studying the information in this question concluded that all woodlands should be protected to increase the biodiversity of birds.

Evaluate the student’s conclusion.

It is not possible to extrapolate the data for the number of bird species recorded breeding each year beyond 1979.

Explain why.

In this woodland, the ecologists measured the similarity in the bird community by comparing each year to 1949 using an index of similarity.

This index ranges from 1.0 for total similarity to 0.0 for total dissimilarity.

Figure 5 shows their results.

Figure 5

Figure 5 not reproduced here due to third-party copyright restrictions

The figure is taken from the following website:

Figure 1b, Anne E. Magurran, Stephen R. Baillie, Stephen T. Buckland, Jan McP. Dick, David A. Elston, E. Marian Scott, Rognvald I. Smith, Paul J. Somerfield, Allan D. Watt, Long-term datasets in biodiversity research and monitoring: assessing change in ecological communities through time, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Volume 25, Issue 10, 2010, Pages 574-582, ISSN 0169-5347, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2010.06.016.

Suggest how the changes in the index of similarity in the bird community provide evidence for the process of succession.

In Figure 5, the index of similarity for the last 10 years remains fairly constant.

Name the stage of a succession this represents.

Suggest one reason why the index of similarity is not absolutely constant.

The Living Planet Index (LPI) is an index designed to monitor the state of the world’s biodiversity.

The LPI is arbitrarily scaled to be 1.0 in 1970, the baseline year.

Figure 6 shows the LPI from the Living Planet Report, 2008. The dotted lines represent ± 2 standard deviations from the mean, which includes over 95% of the data.

Figure 7 shows an alternative version of Figure 6 published on a news website.

Figure 6 Figure 7

Figures 6 and 7 not reproduced here due to third-party copyright restrictions

The figures are taken from the following website:

Figure 2a and 2b, Anne E. Magurran, Stephen R. Baillie, Stephen T. Buckland, Jan McP. Dick, David A. Elston, E. Marian Scott, Rognvald I. Smith, Paul J. Somerfield, Allan D. Watt, Long-term datasets in biodiversity research and monitoring: assessing change in ecological communities through time, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Volume 25, Issue 10, 2010, Pages 574-582, ISSN 0169-5347, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2010.06.016.

The news website published the headline:

The LPI shows human activities cause significant decrease in biodiversity.

Suggest three reasons why this headline is not valid.

Use all the information provided.

Turn over for Section B

Section B

one question.

You are advised to spend no more than 45 minutes on this section.

Write an essay on one of the topics below.

Either

Phosphorus-containing substances and their importance in biological systems.

Or

The mechanisms and importance of transport within organisms.