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March 29, 2024, 10:18:18 am

Author Topic: VCE Biology Question Thread  (Read 3571048 times)  Share 

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PhoenixxFire

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #10575 on: July 31, 2018, 10:37:06 pm »
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Hey,
Welcome to AN ;D

You can read everything you'll cover here.

Basically:
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$noopDodd

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #10576 on: August 05, 2018, 05:06:33 pm »
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What's the difference between divergent evolution and allopatric speciation?
I've asked my teacher and he said that allopatric speciation is just one source of divergent evolution, but I still don't really understand it - if so, what are the other sources of divergent evolution?
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darkz

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #10577 on: August 05, 2018, 05:10:33 pm »
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What's the difference between divergent evolution and allopatric speciation?
I've asked my teacher and he said that allopatric speciation is just one source of divergent evolution, but I still don't really understand it - if so, what are the other sources of divergent evolution?

Well divergent evolution describes the pattern in which evolution occurs and is effectively the creation of a new species from an original population e.g. single population of one species becomes two distinct species or possibly more. Therefore, any form of speciation would be considered a source of divergent evolution - there are a few more types of speciation like peripatric, parapatric, and sympatric - but for VCE, you only need to know allopatric speciation
« Last Edit: August 05, 2018, 05:14:47 pm by darkdzn »
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PhoenixxFire

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #10578 on: August 05, 2018, 05:15:16 pm »
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What's the difference between divergent evolution and allopatric speciation?
I've asked my teacher and he said that allopatric speciation is just one source of divergent evolution, but I still don't really understand it - if so, what are the other sources of divergent evolution?
Divergent evolution is the accumulation of differences. Once there are enough differences between two populations they are unable to breed and are therefore different species.

Allopatric speciation occurs when populations are separated by a geographical barrier and accumulate enough differences that they are unable to breed and are therefore different species.

Therefore when a population undergoes allopatric speciation it is evolving divergently.

There are other types of speciation but you do not need to know about them for VCE.

Edit: Beaten by darkdzn but I’ll post it anyway
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peachxmh

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #10579 on: August 11, 2018, 11:42:54 am »
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Does anyone have any tips for memorising the characteristics of the species in the Homo genus, primates, hominins, etc.? I'm finding it quite hard atm as there are lots of things I could memorise for each :( thx!
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juntyhee

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #10580 on: August 11, 2018, 11:46:01 am »
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An image of a phylogenetic tree is attached below. Which organism is most closely related with the 'Rhea'? An explanation as to WHY will be great.
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Scribe

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #10581 on: August 11, 2018, 12:33:20 pm »
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Hey all,
From what I understand (which may be incorrect), the immune system distinguishes self cells from non-self cells depending on their particular antigens.

What do pattern recognition receptors (PRRS) on phagocytic cells do? Do they just enable cells of the innate immune system to identify extracellular pathogens by recognising and binding to pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs)? If so, I'm not sure how this is different from antigens. Also, are we actually required to know about PRRs and PAMPs?

Thanks!

PhoenixxFire

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #10582 on: August 11, 2018, 05:06:19 pm »
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Does anyone have any tips for memorising the characteristics of the species in the Homo genus, primates, hominins, etc.? I'm finding it quite hard atm as there are lots of things I could memorise for each :( thx!
Don’t worry about memorising exact details - you just need to know general trends. Try and remember one or two features of each genus (eg. Australopithecus, Paranthropus, etc.) but don’t worry about memorising the differences between each species. (Except you may need to know more for your SAC)

For primates/hominids/hominins just remember the key features of primates (a lot of them are things people know anyway) and then just remember a couple of things that makes a primate a hominid and then a couple that makes a hominid a hominin. You don’t need to memorise entire lists of features.

An image of a phylogenetic tree is attached below. Which organism is most closely related with the 'Rhea'? An explanation as to WHY will be great.
Unless I’m missing something, the best you can tell from that tree is that everything below the Rhea is closer related to it than the ostrich. The vertical lines indicate a common ancestor. Species with the most recent common answer are the most closely related. As everything below the Rhea shares a common ancestor with the rhea at the same point, you can’t distinguish which of them is more closely related.

Hey all,
From what I understand (which may be incorrect), the adaptiveimmune system distinguishes self cells from non-self cells depending on their particular antigens.

What do pattern recognition receptors (PRRS) on phagocytic cells do? Do they just enable cells of the innate immune system to identify extracellular pathogens by recognising and binding to pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs)? If so, I'm not sure how this is different from antigens. Also, are we actually required to know about PRRs and PAMPs?

Thanks!
I’m not sure if you need to know about them. I never learnt anything about them, and I haven’t seen anything about them on the study design but I know some people have talked about them on here previously, so I’ll leave that for someone else to answer.
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Azim.m

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VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #10583 on: August 12, 2018, 08:17:27 am »
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The answer is D, but couldn’t it also be C?
« Last Edit: August 12, 2018, 08:19:53 am by Azim.m »

darkz

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #10584 on: August 12, 2018, 09:04:55 am »
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The answer is D, but couldn’t it also be C?

I suppose that it's D because the question asks for a method which is present in all 3 - eye, airway and mouth - so that'd be lysozyme
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vox nihili

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #10585 on: August 15, 2018, 10:27:03 am »
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The answer is D, but couldn’t it also be C?

Agree with darkdzn. The eye is covered in a tear film, not mucous.

Really silly question though, way too pedantic, so I wouldn't worry about it :)
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peachxmh

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #10586 on: August 18, 2018, 10:41:15 pm »
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With this VCAA question from the 2009 Exam 2 paper, could someone please explain how the answer is relevant to technological evolution? I thought it was to do with how changes in technology gave humans increased control over their environment - how is "information being passed on" relevant to it.. I thought it was cultural evolution? Thanks  :P

Q: The rate of technological evolution has been increased by the cultural evolution of Homo sapiens. Describe one example of the effect that cultural evolution has had on the rate of technological evolution.
A: Articulate speech/writing/painting/ceremonies enabled information to be passed on

tbh I find questions about the relationships between biological/cultural/technological evolution and how they influenced each other really confusing
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Scribe

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #10587 on: August 18, 2018, 11:22:33 pm »
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Hey guys,

  • Major trends in hominin evolution from the genus Australopithecus to the genus Homo including structural,
    functional and cognitive changes and the consequences for cultural evolution
With regards to this dot point, do we need to learn about the pre-human hominins (Australopithecines, Paranthropus, and Ardipithecus) What specifically do we need to know?

Also, which species of the Homo genus should we learn and how much do we need to know?
Am I missing anything from this list: Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo floresiensis, Homo heidelbergensis, Homo neanderthalensis.

Thanks!

PhoenixxFire

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #10588 on: August 19, 2018, 07:49:11 am »
+5
With this VCAA question from the 2009 Exam 2 paper, could someone please explain how the answer is relevant to technological evolution? I thought it was to do with how changes in technology gave humans increased control over their environment - how is "information being passed on" relevant to it.. I thought it was cultural evolution? Thanks  :P

Q: The rate of technological evolution has been increased by the cultural evolution of Homo sapiens. Describe one example of the effect that cultural evolution has had on the rate of technological evolution.
A: Articulate speech/writing/painting/ceremonies enabled information to be passed on

tbh I find questions about the relationships between biological/cultural/technological evolution and how they influenced each other really confusing
Okay so what this question is really asking is for an example of cultural evolution that allows technological evolution to be fast. Technological evolution requires passing on the knowledge of how to make things so therefore Articulate speech/writing (an example of cultural evolution), which allows this to happen, is the answer.


Hey guys,

  • Major trends in hominin evolution from the genus Australopithecus to the genus Homo including structural,
    functional and cognitive changes and the consequences for cultural evolution
With regards to this dot point, do we need to learn about the pre-human hominins (Australopithecines, Paranthropus, and Ardipithecus) What specifically do we need to know?

Also, which species of the Homo genus should we learn and how much do we need to know?
Am I missing anything from this list: Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo floresiensis, Homo heidelbergensis, Homo neanderthalensis.

Thanks!
I think you just need to be able to identify if a species belongs to a particular genus (see Q7 on the 2017 exam) and you need to know general trends that occurred from Austra. to homo. and where para. and ardi. fit along that timeline.

I don't really know how much you need to learn about each of the H. species, but you should be fine so long as you can differentiate between them, know where each fits on the timeline, and know what evolved into humans, and what coexisted with us. <-- This could be too much info, but I don't think you'll need more than that.
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PopcornTime

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #10589 on: August 19, 2018, 04:05:17 pm »
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What is the function of primers in PCR?