DP Biology (last assessment 2024)

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Question 22M.2.SL.TZ2.7c

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Date May 2022 Marks available [Maximum mark: 3] Reference code 22M.2.SL.TZ2.7c
Level SL Paper 2 Time zone TZ2
Command term Suggest Question number c Adapted from N/A
c.
[Maximum mark: 3]
22M.2.SL.TZ2.7c

The growing human population has an increasing demand for energy derived from crop plants. At the same time, increasing droughts that are part of climate change make it difficult to grow crops in some parts of the world.

(c)

Suggest possible benefits and risks of using genetic modification to develop varieties of crop plant with traits such as drought resistance.

[3]

Markscheme

      Benefits:

  1. increase crop growth/food productivity;
  2. with limited water/ less water is used;
  3. increase amount of land available for food production in dry areas;
    Risks:
  4. these plants may out-compete other species in the community/may cause extinction of some species/affect the food chains in the community;
  5. the modified gene/recombinant DNA may pass to other organisms;
  6. more grain requires more nutrients from the soil so its quality may diminish/monoculture issues;
  7. GMO may have health effects in consumers / OWTTE;

Must include at least one benefit and one risk for [3 max].

Examiners report

Again, drought resistance was in the stem, but not always used. There were many general ‘rants’ about GMO crops without setting out the facts.

Syllabus sections