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WABiology

Unit 3: Continuity of Species

18 dot points across 18 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do biotechnologies manipulate genetic material and what are their uses?

Describe key biotechnology techniques and evaluate their applications and implications
A focused answer to the WACE Year 12 Biology dot point on biotechnology. Covers PCR, gel electrophoresis, recombinant DNA, transgenic organisms, cloning and the ethical and ecological implications.
8 min answer →

How is genetic information stored, organised and expressed in living organisms?

Describe the structure of DNA, how genes code for proteins, and how DNA is packaged into chromosomes
A focused answer to the WACE Year 12 Biology dot point on DNA, genes and chromosomes. Covers nucleotide structure, the genetic code, transcription and translation, and how DNA is packaged into chromosomes.
8 min answer →

How is an exact copy of the genetic material made before a cell divides?

Explain the semiconservative process of DNA replication and the roles of the enzymes involved
A focused answer to the WACE Year 12 Biology dot point on DNA replication. Covers the semiconservative model, the roles of helicase, DNA polymerase and ligase, leading and lagging strands, and why accurate copying matters for continuity of species.
6 min answer →

What different lines of evidence support the theory of evolution?

Evaluate the evidence for evolution from fossils, comparative anatomy, biochemistry and biogeography
A focused answer to the WACE Year 12 Biology dot point on evidence for evolution. Covers the fossil record, comparative anatomy and homologous structures, molecular and biochemical evidence, and biogeography with Australian examples.
7 min answer →

How do populations change over time and how do new species arise?

Explain natural selection and the mechanisms that drive evolution and lead to speciation
A focused answer to the WACE Year 12 Biology dot point on evolution and speciation. Covers natural selection, the gene pool, allele frequency change, isolating mechanisms and how new species form.
8 min answer →

How is the information in a gene used to build a functional protein?

Explain how a gene is expressed through transcription and translation to produce a polypeptide
A focused answer to the WACE Year 12 Biology dot point on gene expression. Covers transcription of mRNA, the genetic code and codons, the roles of mRNA, tRNA and ribosomes in translation, and how the polypeptide folds into a functional protein.
7 min answer →

What forces change the genetic makeup of a population besides natural selection?

Explain how genetic drift, gene flow, the founder effect and bottlenecks change allele frequencies in a gene pool
A focused answer to the WACE Year 12 Biology dot point on changing allele frequencies. Covers the gene pool, genetic drift, gene flow, the founder effect and bottleneck effect, with Australian examples of small and isolated populations.
7 min answer →

What laboratory techniques allow scientists to copy, cut and read DNA?

Describe the techniques of gene technology including restriction enzymes, PCR, gel electrophoresis and DNA profiling
A focused answer to the WACE Year 12 Biology dot point on gene technology techniques. Covers restriction enzymes, recombinant DNA and ligase, the polymerase chain reaction, gel electrophoresis and DNA profiling with their applications.
8 min answer →

How are traits inherited and how does variation arise within populations?

Apply models of inheritance and explain the sources of genetic variation in populations
A focused answer to the WACE Year 12 Biology dot point on inheritance. Covers Mendelian crosses, codominance, sex linkage, polygenic traits, mutation and the sources of genetic variation.
8 min answer →

How can we measure whether a population is evolving?

Use the Hardy-Weinberg principle to calculate allele and genotype frequencies and test for change
A focused answer to the WACE Year 12 Biology dot point on the Hardy-Weinberg principle. Covers the equations, the equilibrium conditions, worked allele and genotype frequency calculations, and how deviation from equilibrium indicates evolution.
7 min answer →

How does sexual reproduction generate genetic variation among offspring?

Explain how crossing over, independent assortment and random fertilisation generate genetic variation
A focused answer to the WACE Year 12 Biology dot point on how meiosis creates variation. Covers crossing over, independent assortment, random fertilisation, and how these processes combine to make each offspring genetically unique.
6 min answer →

How do cells divide to maintain organisms and produce genetically varied gametes?

Compare mitosis and meiosis and explain how meiosis generates genetic variation
A focused answer to the WACE Year 12 Biology dot point on cell division. Compares mitosis and meiosis stage by stage and explains how crossing over, independent assortment and random fertilisation generate variation.
8 min answer →

How do changes to the DNA sequence arise and what are their consequences?

Describe the types of gene and chromosomal mutations, their causes, and their effects on phenotype
A focused answer to the WACE Year 12 Biology dot point on mutations. Covers point mutations including substitution, insertion and deletion, frameshift effects, chromosomal mutations, mutagens, and why only mutations in gametes are heritable.
7 min answer →

How does natural selection change a population over time?

Explain how natural selection acts on variation through selection pressures to change populations
A focused answer to the WACE Year 12 Biology dot point on natural selection. Covers variation, selection pressures, differential survival and reproduction, fitness, and Australian examples such as cane toad and myxomatosis resistance.
7 min answer →

How do different patterns of inheritance produce predictable ratios of offspring?

Apply patterns of inheritance including dihybrid, codominance, multiple alleles, sex linkage and polygenic inheritance
A focused answer to the WACE Year 12 Biology dot point on patterns of inheritance. Covers dihybrid crosses, codominance and incomplete dominance, multiple alleles such as ABO blood groups, sex linkage and polygenic inheritance with Australian examples.
8 min answer →

How can a family tree reveal the inheritance pattern of a genetic trait?

Interpret pedigrees to determine the mode of inheritance and predict genotypes
A focused answer to the WACE Year 12 Biology dot point on pedigree analysis. Covers reading pedigree symbols, distinguishing dominant from recessive and autosomal from sex-linked inheritance, and assigning genotypes from a family tree.
6 min answer →

How do humans deliberately change the genetics of organisms, and what are the implications?

Describe selective breeding, transgenic organisms and cloning, and evaluate their applications and implications
A focused answer to the WACE Year 12 Biology dot point on reproductive and cloning technologies. Covers selective breeding, transgenic organisms, reproductive and therapeutic cloning, and the ethical and biological implications with Australian examples.
7 min answer →

How does one species split into two over time?

Explain how reproductive isolation leads to allopatric and sympatric speciation
A focused answer to the WACE Year 12 Biology dot point on speciation. Covers the biological species concept, allopatric and sympatric speciation, prezygotic and postzygotic isolating mechanisms, and Australian examples of divergence.
7 min answer →