TOPIC: ECOLOGY SECTION MARKS

Time: 2 ½ hours
Attempt all questions in this paper A
B
TOTAL
SECTION A. (40MARKS)
1. The number of trophic levels in a D. Easily transforms to non-toxic 11. Which one of the following
food chain is mainly determined forms methods of estimating population
by the 6. Which one of the following is not has the highest chances of error?
A. Deficiency of energy transfer used to describe a population of A. Removal method
between levels organism? B. Quadrat method
B. Biomass of the producer A. Density C. Capture-recapture method
C. Net productivity of ecosystem B. Biodiversity D. Direct count method
D. Species diversity of the C. Size 12. The figure shows a pyramid of
ecosystem D. distribution numbers for a food chain
2. Which one of the following 7. Mosses growing on the bark of a
Tertiary consumer
characteristics of a parasite is not tree form an association with the
a means of ensuring continuity of tree is called Secondary Consumer
species of the parasite? A. mutualism
Primary Consumer
A. Degeneration of redundant B. parasitism
body structures C. commensalism Producers
B. Protection against host D. predator
enzymes 8. Which one of the following The most likely mode of nutrition
C. Means of penetrating other equation shows the correct relationship between producer
organisms relationship between gross and primary consumers is
D. Means of dispersing offspring primary productivity (GPP) and A. Mutualistic
3. The biomass of consumer is net productivity (NPP) in plants? B. Symbiotic
always less than that of producers A. GPP = NPP – photosynthesis C. Parasitic
because B. NPP = GPP – photosynthesis D. autotrophic
A. Producers have to support C. GPP = NPP – plant 13. Which one of the following
consumers respiration environmental factors has direct
B. Consumers have a low D. NPP = GPP – plant effect on all organisms?
productive rate respiration A. Light
C. Energy is lost through body 9. Which one of the following B. Humidity
process of consumer activities does not contribute to the C. Temperature
D. Consumers are small in size greenhouse effect? D. rainfall
4. In estimating the population of A. Deforestation 14. Which one of the following factors
tilapia in a fish pond, 60 fish were B. Use of SFCs reduces interspecific competition
captured, marked and released. C. Burning of fossil fuel in a community?
After 2days, 50 were captured and D. Emission of gases from A. Resource partitioning
out of which 10 were marked. The industries B. High intraspecific competition
population of tilapia in the pond 10. Which one of the following is C. Large number of species
was. correct about organism in an D. Similar producer-prey
A. 300 ecosystem? strategies among the species.
B. 400 A. Some organisms exist in 15. Which one of the following is not
C. 200 isolation exhibited by well adapted
D. 100 B. Every organism can be parasite?
5. A good pesticide is one which independent A. Inflicting moderate harm to its
A. Kills a wide range of C. Each organism has a different host
organism source of food B. Employing an intermediate
B. Persist for a long time after its D. All organism interacts with host
application each other C. Killing the host
C. Kills pests at different trophic D. Using more than one host
levels 16. Depletion of the ozone layer is
caused by
JIMO – Biology Dept. 2024 1
 A. Greenhouse effect A. cannot be absorbed by plant D. aerial view
B. Release of carbon dioxide in so they only affect animals 20. Excessive use of pesticides in the
the atmosphere B. accumulate in animals and long term affect mostly
C. Penetration of ultraviolet light return to the soil animals die A. carnivore
D. Release of the C. cause extremely high B. parasites
chlorofluorocarbon in temperatures in the C. producers
atmosphere environment D. herbivores
17. The type of succession where D. accumulate in high 21. Which one of the following is true
recolonization of an area results concentrations at high trophic about the environment of a forest
into a different community from levels floor under a thick canopy?
the original one is known a 19. Determining the commonest plant A. Has wide temperature
A. Primary species in a large habitat within a fluctuations
B. Dominant short time can be best carried out B. Receives far red light
C. Deflected using the C. Develop dense plant growth
D. Secondary A. line transect D. Has heavy soil erosion
18. Radioactive rays are particularly B. quadrat
dangerous in nature because they C. direct count

22. In which pyramid does the primary consumer make efficient use of the producer

A B C D
23. Which one of the following such as trees but may have the 29. Three counts of 103, 46 and 20 of
factors, has the greatest limiting same productivity because plant species, were made using a
influence on the population of A. A lot of material and energy quadrat of 25cm2. The density of
algae at the bottom of a pond? are locked up in the dead plant per m2 is
A. Light xylem tissue of the tree. A. 169
B. Carbon dioxide B. The algae have a very high B. 56.3
C. Mineral salts turn-over C. 225
D. oxygen C. Algae have a high rate of D. 676
24. Which one of the following factors reproduction 30. Which one of the following
does not affect the distribution and D. The rate of growth and death ecological pyramid may be used
abundance of organism? in algae is high to determine the productivity in an
A. Mimicry 27. Predators in top trophic levels in ecosystem?
B. Predation food chain are most severely A. Pyramid of energy
C. Human species affected by persistent pesticides B. Pyramid of biomass
D. speciation because C. Pyramid of numbers
25. Which one of the following would A. Their system are highly D. Pyramid of productivity
be an effect of decreasing sensitive to chemicals 31. Which one of the following forms of
competition on a stable B. They have high reproductive environmental hazards is
population? rates attributed to application of CFCs?
A. Increasing the environmental C. They cannot store pesticides A. Greenhouse effect
resistance thereby increasing in their tissues B. Acid rain
the population D. The pesticides become C. Ozone layer depletion
B. Lowering the environmental concentrated in their prey D. Eutrophication.
resistance thereby increasing 28. Nitrifying bacteria convert 32. Which one of the following
the population ammonia into nitrites and nitrites processes does not affect the
C. Lowering the environmental into nitrates in order to biochemical oxygen demand?
resistance thereby A. Enrich the soil A. Ammonification
decreasing the population B. Generate energy for B. Nitrogen fixation
D. Increasing the environmental synthesis of organic C. Nitrification
resistance thereby compounds D. denitrification
decreasing the population C. Maintain the nitrogen cycle 33. Which one of the following
26. Algae have much smaller biomass D. Reduce the amount of constitutes the most energy
compared to a large producer nitrogen in the atmosphere transfer?

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 A. Praying mantis feeding on A. Death rate and birth rate are D. Use of CFCs
flies equal 39. During which energy transfer is
B. Aphids feeding on plant sap B. Number of individuals and most energy lost in an
C. Cat feeding on small rate of growth increase ecosystem?
mammals C. The number outstrip the A. Producer Primary
D. Beetle larvae feeding on dung supply of factors for support consumer
34. Which one of the following has the D. Slow growth of the population B. Primary consumer
greatest biomass in an 37. The number of organisms in each secondary consumer
ecosystem? trophic level reduces as one C. Secondary consumers
A. Tertiary consumer moves up a food chain because tertiary consumer
B. Primary producer A. Energy is lost in moving from D. Tertiary consumer
C. Secondary consumer one trophic level to another decomposer.
D. Primary consumer B. Energy is lost from the top 40. The bacteria which convert
35. Which one of the following is not a levels nitrates to nitrites during the
problem that endoparasite face in C. Organism in higher trophic nitrogen cycle are example of
their transmission? levels are less productive A. Nitrogen fixing bacteria
A. Leaving the host D. Of high level of predation at B. Nitrifying bacteria
B. Entering the host the top trophic levels C. Decomposing bacteria
C. Living away from the host 38. Which of the following activities D. Denitrifying bacteria
D. Identifying the host does not contribute to global
36. Which one of the following warming?
statement is correct about the A. Use of pesticide
exponential phase in the B. Deforestation
population growth? C. Burning fossil fuel

SECTION B (60MARKS)
41 (a) What is parasitism? (1mark)
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(b) State three physiological adaptations of endo parasites. (3marks)

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(c) Give three advantages of a parasitic mode of life to the parasite. (3marks)
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(d) Describe three ways of a parasite-host relationship which ensures the success of a parasite. (3marks)
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42. The figure shows energy flow in a food chain

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 10,000kJ
800kJ 160kJ
Plants Herbivores Carnivores

(a) (Assuming 10% of the energy received by herbivores is lost, calculate the energy retained. (3marks)
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(b) Explain why

(i) Energy transfer from herbivores to carnivores is more efficient than that from producers to herbivores. (3marks)
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(ii) The efficiency of energy transfer from herbivores to carnivores is less than 100%. (2marks)
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(c) State the factors which limit the number of trophic levels in a food chain. (2marks)
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43. The below show the two forms of population growth curves of animals
A B (a) Indicate by drawing on curve The carrying
capacity of the environment. (1mark)
(b) Compare the pattern of population changes in
curve A and curve B. (2marks)
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time time
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(c) Suggest an explanation for the population changes in curve B. ………………………… (4marks)
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(d) Suggest three biotic factors which can result into a change in carrying capacity, in an environment. (3marks)
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44. (a) State three ecological problems which arise from accumulation of domestic waste in urban communities (03marks)
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(b) Give two ways of reducing domestic waste. (2marks)

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(c) The figure below shows lichen species growing along a 20Km transect from an urban Centre.
(i) Explain the trend in the lichen species with distance
from urban center. (3marks)

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5 10 15 20 …………….…………………………………………………
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(ii) Suggest an explanation for the observed number of lichen species at a distance of 10km from urban center (2marks)
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45. (a) How can predation be beneficial to the prey? (2marks)

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(b) Give factors that may affect the predator prey balance in nature. (4marks)
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(c) Outline ways by which humans affected the predator-prey balance resulting into harmful consequences. (04marks)
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46. (a) (i) Describe how a quadrat method can be used to determine species density. (2marks)
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(ii) state the advantages and disadvantages of the method. (2marks)
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(b) (i) Why is it important to estimate population size? (2marks)
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(ii) in estimating the number of fish in a small lake, 625 fish were caught, marked and released. After one week, 920 fish
were caught and of these, 150 had been marked. What was the estimated size of fish population (2marks)
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(iii) In using the method in b(ii) estimate the population size of fish, state two assumptions that were made. (2marks)
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END

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