Questions 2013
School of Biological Sciences Bioscience Olympiad Questions
16/09/2013
1. Some animals eat only the flowers of plants. Suggest why?
2. It is recommended to add fertilisers to aquarium plants in small portions many times during a long time interval. Why do you think this way is better than adding a large portion once?
3. Why do some animals lick themselves and others?
4. Jack, James and Cathy from England went for an expedition to Central Africa. On the 79th day they reached small village surrounded by jungles. The natives made a feast where John, James and Cathy ate some local dishes and also offered some of their leftover provisions to the natives.
Next morning Jack felt very sick. Moaning from the James and Cathy sleeping bags told him that the others were also not good.
“Evil locals! They poisoned us!” cried out Jack. But at this moment a small boy entered the hut and told them that all the other participants of the feast were also sick. Both travellers and locals were confident that their food was good. Why did they all get sick?? Suggest as many hypotheses as you can.
5. What characteristics and indications of plant fossils can paleobotanists use in order to identify whether the plant was perennial or annual?
6. Some free living soil bacteria permanently secrete a certain single amino acid to the outside. How and why do they do this?
7. Molecules of many enzymes are composed of several subunits. These subunits are polypeptide chains that are synthesised separately and then combined with each other into whole enzyme. Very often, only one subunit executes catalytic function of the enzyme. Moreover, if this subunit is separated it can catalyse the reaction with the same or even faster rate, than when it was constituent within the entire enzyme molecule. Why are there other subunits in the enzyme? Suggest as many explanations as you can. You can illustrate with examples if it makes your point clearer.