Skip to main content
A-LevelBiologyInfectious diseases9700/51 · May/June 2024 · Q36 Marks

Female mosquitoes feed on human blood. Some species of mosquitoes are vectors of human pathogens. For example, female mosquitoes of the species Aedes aegypti transmit the pathogen that causes the disease yellow fever. Mosquitoes have sensory receptors that can detect chemicals in the air. Mosquito repellents contain chemicals that are sprayed onto the skin of humans to prevent mosquitoes taking blood meals. (a) Some scientists investigated the effectiveness of different mosquito repellents using a human volunteer. The scientists carried out the investigation on this person in a laboratory. Fig. 3.1 is a diagram of the experiment before the start of the investigation. [Figure 3.1] The same procedure was used for each mosquito repellent studied. • A human volunteer sat 1 m from a mosquito cage, as shown in Fig. 3.1. • The person sprayed some mosquito repellent onto the skin of both arms. • A fan was turned on so that air moved from the person towards the mosquito cage. The moving air carried chemicals, including the mosquito repellent, from the person into the mosquito cage. • The scientists added 100 female mosquitoes of A. aegypti to section 2 of the mosquito cage. • The mosquitoes were left in the mosquito cage for 15 minutes. The walls of the mosquito cage were made of fine net to prevent mosquitoes leaving the cage. The mosquitoes moved freely between sections 1, 2 and 3. • After 15 minutes, the scientists counted the number of mosquitoes in each section of the mosquito cage. The percentage of mosquitoes in section 1 of the mosquito cage was calculated. • This procedure was then repeated three times on different days, using the same person.

  1. (a)(i)State a suitable control for this investigation.[1]
  2. (a)(ii)Suggest one risk to the scientists when carrying out this investigation and state a suitable precaution they should take.[1]
  3. (b)Explain whether the procedure and the data in Table 3.1 support or do not support this decision to use a mosquito repellent that contained DEET.[4]

This question uses a diagram from the original paper, which isn't shown here. Open the full paper from the past papers archive to see it.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2024). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

  1. [1] (human volunteer / person and) no (mosquito) repellent / spray; or (human volunteer / person and) water (spray); or (human volunteer / person and) solvent (from repellent / spray) ;
  2. [1] named risk and matching precaution; risk: mosquitoes take blood meal (from scientist) or mosquitoes bite (scientist); precaution: protective clothing / gloves / masks / PPE; risk: mosquitoes transmit, disease / pathogen / yellow fever / AW; precaution: protective clothing / gloves / masks / PPE / use, disease / pathogen, free mosquitoes / vaccine (against yellow fever); risk: (mosquito) repellent / spray / solvent, allergy / irritant / toxic; precaution: protective clothing / gloves / masks / PPE
  3. [1] 98% DEET is effective (at repelling mosquitoes) ;
  4. [1] idea that standard error / SE, overlap for 98% DEET and lemon eucalyptus oil, so these mosquito repellents are equally effective / no significant difference between these mosquito repellents ;
  5. [1] idea that lemon eucalyptus oil is, (slightly) more effective / equally effective (as 98% DEET), but, has a low concentration (of chemical) / might be safer or idea that lemon eucalyptus oil is, (slightly) more effective / equally effective, (as 98% DEET) but DEET is, toxic / irritant / harmful;
  6. [1] idea that not true for all concentrations of DEET / 40% (concentration) DEET is much less effective ; ora
  7. [1] no statistical test carried out ;
  8. [1] only one human volunteer tested ;
  9. [1] idea that some mosquitoes are still attracted to the human volunteer (when using 98% DEET) ;
  10. [1] idea that mosquitoes used / Aedes aegypti, do not transmit malaria ;
  11. [1] idea that mosquitoes were not able to, take a blood meal from / bite, the human volunteer / investigation only measured attraction of mosquitoes (to the human volunteer) ;

Write your answer and get it marked

On Oracle Prep you can write or photograph your own answer and have it marked by AI against this mark scheme, with feedback on what you missed.

Sign up free →

About this question

Topic
Infectious diseases, A-Level Biology (syllabus 9700). Structured question, 6 marks.
Source
A-Level Biology, May/June 2024 Paper 5 Variant 1, question 3.

Questions and mark schemes are from past examination papers and remain the copyright of the exam board. How Oracle Prep builds its content

Related Biology questions

© 2026 Oracle Prep