AQA Biology A-Level - Evolution QP

Q1.
Guppies are small fish. Female guppies are dull in colour. Male guppies can be
bright or dull in colour.

Scientists investigated the effect of female brain size on choosing a mate. They
used laboratory-bred female guppies with large brains and with small brains.

They set up a fish tank as shown in the diagram below.

They observed each female for 10 minutes and recorded which male they were
attracted towards. They repeated this with 45 large-brained females and 45
small-brained females.

(a) Suggest three possible limitations of this investigation.

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(3)

Guppies with large brains are better at identifying predators.

The scientists found that only female guppies with large brains were attracted to
male guppies bright in colour.

(b) Suggest and explain the advantage of this behaviour to the population of
guppies.

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AQA Biology A-Level - Evolution QP

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(3)

(c) Describe how the behaviour of female guppies could result in sympatric
speciation.

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(3)
(Total 9 marks)

Q2.
Lactose is the main sugar in milk and is hydrolysed by the enzyme lactase.
Lactase is essential to newborn mammals as milk is their only source of food.
Most mammals stop producing lactase when they start feeding on other food
sources. Humans are an exception to this because some continue to produce
lactase as adults. The ability to continue producing lactase is known as lactase
persistence (LP) and is controlled by a dominant allele. A number of hypotheses
based on different selection pressures have been put forward to explain LP in
humans.

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AQA Biology A-Level - Evolution QP

(a) One hypothesis for LP in humans suggests that the selective pressure was
related to some human populations farming cattle as a source of milk.

Describe how farming cattle as a source of milk could have led to an

increase in LP.

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(4)

(b) Use the information provided to explain why the number of people showing
LP would rapidly increase once selection for this condition had been
established.

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(2)

Q3.

(b) Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea possesses two species of palm tree
which have arisen via sympatric speciation. The two species diverged from
each other after the island was formed 6.5 million years ago. The flowering
times of the two species are different.

Using this information, suggest how these two species of palm tree arose
by sympatric speciation.

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AQA Biology A-Level - Evolution QP

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(5)

Q4.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a non-reversible brain disorder that develops over a

number of years. At the start of 2014 the number of Americans with AD was
estimated to be 5.4 million. Every 30 seconds another person in America
develops AD.

5 In the brain of a person with AD there is a lower concentration of acetylcholine.

This affects communication between nerve cells and initially results in memory
loss and confusion. Some of the symptoms of AD that are associated with
communication between nerve cells are reduced by taking the drug donepezil.
Donepezil inhibits the enzyme acetylcholinesterase.

10 A gene mutation called E280A found on chromosome 14 causes early-onset AD

at a mean age of 49 years. The age at which the E280A mutation is expressed
to cause AD varies.
Yaramul is a town in a historically isolated region of the Andes Mountains. The
population of this town has the highest frequency of the E280A mutation in the
15 world. The origin of the E280A mutation in this population has been traced back
to a common ancestor in the 17th century. Natural selection has not reduced
the frequency of the E280A mutation in the population.

This autosomal dominant mutation involves a change in triplet 280 from GAA to
GCA. Scientists analysed chromosome 14 from 102 individuals from Yaramul.
20 They recorded a sample size of 204 and detected 75 E280A mutations but only
74 potential AD cases. The scientists identified individuals with the mutation by
whole genome sequencing. They had decided that a DNA probe would not be a
suitable method to detect the E280A mutation.

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AQA Biology A-Level - Evolution QP

(a) Assuming no one with AD died in 2014, calculate the annual percentage
increase in AD cases in America for 2014 (lines 2–4).

Answer = ____________________ %
(2)

(c) Suggest and explain two reasons why there is a high frequency of the
E280A mutation in Yaramul (lines 13–15).

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(d) Explain why natural selection has not reduced the frequency of the E280A
mutation in the population (lines 16–17).

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(2)

Q5.
To reduce the damage caused by insect pests, some farmers spray their fields of
crop plants with pesticide. Many of these pesticides have been shown to cause
environmental damage.

Bt plants have been genetically modified to produce a toxin that kills insect pests.
The use of Bt crop plants has led to a reduction in the use of pesticides.

Scientists have found that some species of insect pest have become resistant to
the toxin produced by the Bt crop plants.

The figure below shows information about the use of Bt crops and the number of
species of insect pest resistant to the Bt toxin in one country.

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AQA Biology A-Level - Evolution QP

Year

(a) Can you conclude that the insect pest resistant to Bt toxin found in the
years 2002 to 2005 was the same insect species? Explain your answer.

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(1)

(b) One farmer stated that the increase in the use of Bt crop plants had
caused a mutation in one of the insect species and that this mutation had
spread to other species of insect. Was he correct? Explain your answer.

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(4)

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AQA Biology A-Level - Evolution QP

(c) There was a time lag between the introduction of Bt crops and the
appearance of the first insect species that was resistant to the Bt toxin.
Explain why there was a time lag.

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(3)
(Total 8 marks)

Q6.
There are nine subspecies of giraffe. These subspecies evolved when
populations of giraffe were separated for long time periods. Each subspecies has
distinct coloured skin markings. Some biologists have suggested that up to six of
these subspecies should be classified as different species.

(a) Explain how different subspecies of giraffe may have evolved from a
common ancestor.
Use information from the passage in your answer.

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AQA Biology A-Level - Evolution QP

(b) Biologists compared the mitochondrial DNA of the different subspecies of

giraffe. They used the results from comparing this DNA to conclude that six
of the nine subspecies are separate species.

Suggest how they came to this conclusion.

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(2)
(Total 7 marks)

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