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VICBiologyQuick questions
Unit 1: How do organisms regulate their functions?
Quick questions on Animal cells, tissues, organs and systems (digestive, endocrine, excretory): VCE Biology Unit 1
15short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is hierarchy of organisation?Show answer
Cells specialise to form tissues (groups of similar cells with a common function); tissues form organs (structures of several tissue types with a specific function); organs form organ systems (groups of organs working together).
What is the four primary animal tissue types?Show answer
Epithelial tissue. Sheets of tightly packed cells that line and cover surfaces (skin, gut, blood vessels, glands). Function: protection, absorption, secretion, filtration. Varieties include simple squamous (thin, for diffusion), simple columnar (for absorption in the gut), and stratified (for protection in the skin).
What is the digestive system?Show answer
The digestive system breaks food down mechanically and chemically into small absorbable molecules and excretes the indigestible remainder.
What is the endocrine system?Show answer
The endocrine system uses hormones (chemical messengers) to coordinate slow, widespread, long-lasting changes.
What is the excretory system?Show answer
The excretory system removes metabolic waste (especially nitrogenous waste from protein breakdown, such as urea) and regulates water and salt balance (osmoregulation).
What is epithelial tissue?Show answer
Sheets of tightly packed cells that line and cover surfaces (skin, gut, blood vessels, glands). Function: protection, absorption, secretion, filtration. Varieties include simple squamous (thin, for diffusion), simple columnar (for absorption in the gut), and stratified (for protection in the skin).
What is connective tissue?Show answer
Cells in an extracellular matrix (fibres and ground substance). Includes loose connective tissue, adipose (fat), cartilage, bone, blood and lymph. Function: support, attachment, storage, transport.
What is muscle tissue?Show answer
Cells that contract. Three types: skeletal (voluntary, striated, attached to bones), cardiac (involuntary, striated, in the heart), smooth (involuntary, non-striated, in gut and blood-vessel walls).
What is nervous tissue?Show answer
Neurons (transmit impulses) and supporting glial cells. Function: communication and coordination.
What is structure?Show answer
Mouth, pharynx, oesophagus, stomach, small intestine (duodenum, jejunum, ileum), large intestine (caecum, colon, rectum), anus. Accessory organs: salivary glands, liver, gall bladder, pancreas.
What is mouth?Show answer
Teeth break food mechanically (mastication). Salivary glands secrete saliva containing amylase (starch to maltose).
What is oesophagus?Show answer
Smooth muscle moves the bolus to the stomach by waves of peristalsis.
What is stomach?Show answer
Smooth muscle churns food. Gastric glands secrete HCl (low pH, kills microbes, denatures proteins) and pepsinogen (activated to pepsin for protein digestion). The mucus layer protects the stomach wall.
What is small intestine?Show answer
Main site of digestion and absorption.
What is large intestine?Show answer
Absorbs water and ions; bacteria synthesise vitamins K and B. Forms and stores faeces.