JAMB Biology 1988

26 reviewed questions with answers and explanations.

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Question 1

The function of ribosomes in cells is

  1. protein synthesis
  2. starch synthesis
  3. transport of materials
  4. lipid storage
Answer and explanation

A: protein synthesis

Ribosomes translate messenger RNA and join amino acids into polypeptide chains. The mRNA sequence guides amino-acid order. Ribosomes do not act as the main lipid storage or material transport structures.

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Question 3

In older botanical classification, Thallophyta included which pair?

  1. ferns and mosses
  2. algae and fungi
  3. mosses and liverworts
  4. fungi and ferns
Answer and explanation

B: algae and fungi

Thallophyta was an older grouping for thallus-like organisms including algae and fungi. Modern classification separates these lineages rather than treating this historical group as a natural evolutionary branch.

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Question 8

A fern prothallus corresponds to the moss gametophyte principally because it

  1. is inconspicuous
  2. has rhizoids
  3. bears sexual organs
  4. is multicellular
Answer and explanation

C: bears sexual organs

The prothallus is the haploid fern gametophyte and bears gamete-producing organs. Size, rhizoids and multicellularity may be shared, but the reproductive role identifies this life-cycle generation.

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Question 9

A well-established role of trichocyst discharge in Paramecium is

  1. routine swimming by ciliary beating
  2. Defence
  3. Excretion
  4. reproduction
Answer and explanation

B: Defence

Trichocysts can discharge rapidly during predator encounters and aid defence or escape. Routine swimming is mainly powered by cilia; reproduction and excretion use other cellular processes.

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Question 13

Book lungs are respiratory structures found in many

  1. spiders
  2. insects
  3. millipedes
  4. snails
Answer and explanation

A: spiders

Book lungs have stacked thin surfaces for gas exchange and occur in many spiders. Insects and millipedes typically use tracheae; land snails use a modified mantle cavity rather than arachnid book lungs.

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Question 14

Which feature is typical of many adult insects but absent in ordinary garden millipedes?

  1. exoskeleton
  2. jointed appendages
  3. Compound eyes
  4. segmented body
Answer and explanation

C: Compound eyes

Many adult insects have compound eyes made of multiple visual units. Ordinary garden millipedes instead have simple eyes or lack eyes. Both groups have segmented bodies and jointed appendages.

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Question 15

The swim bladder in many bony fishes primarily regulates

  1. breathing
  2. buoyancy
  3. swimming
  4. diving
Answer and explanation

B: buoyancy

Gas-volume changes in a swim bladder adjust overall density and help a fish hold depth with less effort. Fins and muscles propel it. Some fishes use gas organs in respiration, but buoyancy is the common role.

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Question 16

Which of the following statement gives the BEST description of bark?

  1. Tissues outside the vascular cambium
  2. Cork-like tissues found only in stems
  3. Brown tissues never found in primary growth
  4. Cork-like tissues of old trees
Answer and explanation

A: Tissues outside the vascular cambium

Bark includes all tissues outside the vascular cambium, including secondary phloem and protective outer tissues. It is broader than cork alone and is defined anatomically rather than simply by colour.

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Question 17

In a transverse section across the flat maize leaf blade, vascular bundles are arranged approximately in

  1. a row
  2. one circle
  3. alternate positions
  4. two circles
Answer and explanation

A: a row

Parallel veins appear as a row of vascular bundles in a transverse section of the flat maize leaf blade. Bundles can differ in size, but the leaf pattern is distinct from the stem’s vascular arrangement.

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Question 19

Loss of gall-bladder storage and concentration of bile most directly affects the efficient digestion of

  1. Glycolysis
  2. Digestion of starch
  3. Digestion of fats and oils
  4. Digestion of proteins
Answer and explanation

C: Digestion of fats and oils

The gall bladder stores and concentrates bile, which helps emulsify fats for digestion. Reduced bile delivery particularly affects handling of a fatty meal, although the liver still produces bile.

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Question 21

If phloem transport is stopped while leaf photosynthesis and xylem remain functional, the

  1. upward movement of salts will cease
  2. food manufactured in the leaves can accumulate
  3. whole plant will die immediately
  4. leaves of the plant will become yellow
Answer and explanation

B: food manufactured in the leaves can accumulate

Phloem exports sugars from source leaves to other tissues. If phloem transport is stopped while the leaf remains healthy, sugars can accumulate above the interruption; water and mineral transport mainly uses xylem.

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Question 22

Which is the most precise listed site of gas exchange in mammalian lungs?

  1. lungs
  2. bronchi
  3. bronchioles
  4. alveoli
Answer and explanation

D: alveoli

Alveoli have thin walls closely associated with capillaries, allowing oxygen and carbon dioxide to diffuse between air and blood. They are the specialised exchange surfaces within the lungs.

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Question 26

Parenchyma cells serve as supporting tissue when they

  1. contain chloroplasts
  2. have crystals
  3. become flaccid
  4. become turgid
Answer and explanation

D: become turgid

Turgid cells press their contents against the cell wall, producing turgor pressure. This helps support soft plant tissues. Loss of water reduces turgor and can make these tissues wilt.

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Question 27

Taxis differs from a plant tropism because taxis involves

  1. directional relocation of the whole motile organism or cell
  2. it is a directional movement
  3. it is a response to multi-directional stimuli
  4. part of the organism is affected
Answer and explanation

A: directional relocation of the whole motile organism or cell

Taxis is directional movement of a whole motile organism or cell in response to a stimulus. Tropism is a directional growth response of a plant organ, such as a shoot bending towards light.

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Question 30

In graft propagation, which listed part is joined to another plant’s rootstock?

  1. Scion
  2. Bulb
  3. Rhizome
  4. Sucker
Answer and explanation

A: Scion

In grafting, the scion is joined to a compatible rootstock, which supplies the rooted base. Bulbs, rhizomes and suckers can serve as vegetative propagules without forming this scion–rootstock union.

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Question 32

The placenta supplies fetal gas exchange, nutrient transfer and waste removal, functions analogous to those of the

  1. lungs, kidneys and digestive system
  2. lungs, heart and nervous system
  3. liver, intestines and reproductive system
  4. intestines, heart and digestive system
Answer and explanation

A: lungs, kidneys and digestive system

The placenta allows respiratory gas exchange, transfer of nutrients and removal of fetal wastes into maternal circulation. These exchange roles resemble functions served after birth by lungs, kidneys and the digestive system.

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Question 33

The radicle of a bean seedling increases in length most rapidly in the region

  1. of the root tip
  2. just behind the root tip
  3. just around the root tip
  4. just below the root tip
Answer and explanation

B: just behind the root tip

The largest increase in root length occurs in the zone of elongation, behind the root tip. The apical meristem produces cells, which then lengthen before becoming mature specialised tissues.

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Question 34

The main function of the choroid is

  1. protection of the eye ball
  2. transmission of light
  3. supply of nutrients to tissues of the eye
  4. converging light
Answer and explanation

C: supply of nutrients to tissues of the eye

The choroid is rich in blood vessels and supplies oxygen and nutrients especially to the outer retina. Its pigment also absorbs stray light. Focusing is mainly performed by the cornea and lens.

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Question 35

Which brain region is principally involved in consciously interpreting and reasoning through an examination question?

  1. Cerebrum
  2. Cerebellum
  3. Medulla oblongata
  4. Spinal cord
Answer and explanation

A: Cerebrum

The cerebrum supports conscious interpretation, memory and reasoning used to understand and answer a question. Other nervous structures help coordinate movement and maintain bodily functions during the task.

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Question 38

Which instrument estimates pond-water transparency by its disappearance depth?

  1. anemometer
  2. Secchi disc
  3. theodolite
  4. hydrometer
Answer and explanation

B: Secchi disc

A Secchi disc is lowered until it disappears and raised until it reappears, giving an estimate of water transparency. Suspended material can reduce this visibility, but Secchi depth is not a direct laboratory turbidity reading.

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Question 40

Which is the most specific description of an organism using haustoria to obtain food from a living host?

  1. holophytic
  2. heterophytic
  3. Saprophytic
  4. Parasitic
Answer and explanation

D: Parasitic

A parasite can use haustoria to obtain nutrients from living host tissues. This specialised feeding relationship differs from obtaining nutrients from dead organic matter or making food by photosynthesis.

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Question 42

Which factor chiefly distinguishes marine from freshwater conditions and strongly affects the distribution of animals between them?

  1. pH
  2. Salinity
  3. Water current
  4. Turbidity
Answer and explanation

B: Salinity

Salinity is the concentration of dissolved salts and strongly distinguishes marine from freshwater conditions. Animals must maintain suitable internal salt and water balance, so tolerance of salinity limits where they can live.

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Question 43

Which group consists of freshwater or freshwater-surface animals? Here, bloodworm means a chironomid larva and scorpion means a true terrestrial scorpion.

  1. Blood worm, pond skater and scorpion
  2. Blood worm, pond skater and dragonfly larva
  3. Pond skater, scorpion and dragonfly larva
  4. Pond skater, blood worm and ant-lion
Answer and explanation

B: Blood worm, pond skater and dragonfly larva

Chironomid bloodworms and dragonfly larvae live in freshwater, while pond skaters occupy its surface. True scorpions and ant-lion larvae are terrestrial, so those groups do not form the all-freshwater set.

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Question 45

Which disease is associated with infected blackflies that breed near fast-flowing rivers?

  1. Schistosomiasis
  2. Elephantiasis
  3. Syphilis
  4. Onchocerciasis
Answer and explanation

D: Onchocerciasis

Onchocerciasis is transmitted by infected blackflies. Their aquatic immature stages develop in flowing water, explaining the association with communities near fast-flowing streams and rivers.

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Question 48

Which listed nutrient form is especially prone to leaching in many soils with negatively charged particles?

  1. phosphorus
  2. calcium
  3. magnesium
  4. nitrate
Answer and explanation

D: nitrate

Nitrate is soluble and is often poorly retained by negatively charged soil particles. Drainage water can therefore carry it below the root zone. Calcium and magnesium cations are more readily held at exchange sites.

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Question 49

Common compound NPK fertilisers supply

  1. Sodium, iron and calcium
  2. nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium
  3. iron, copper and nitrogen
  4. calcium, sodium and phosphorus
Answer and explanation

B: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium

Common compound NPK fertilisers supply nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, three major plant nutrients. Fertiliser products vary, so this grouping does not mean every product contains all three.

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