A-LevelBiologyBiodiversity and conservation9700/42 · May/June 2018 · Q18 Marks

The Sumatran tiger lives on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. Fig. 1.1 shows a Sumatran tiger.

(a)The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the world's largest global environmental organisation. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™™ evaluates the conservation status of plant and animal species. The Sumatran tiger is categorised as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. There are approximately 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild. Suggest reasons why the Sumatran tiger has become critically endangered.[3]
(b)Some zoos in Europe have captive breeding programmes for the Sumatran tiger, which breeds well in captivity. Once cubs have reached maturity they may be moved to other zoos. For example, as part of a coordinated breeding programme carried out in 2013, one tiger born in Chester Zoo in England was moved to France and another tiger born in the same zoo was moved to Germany. This type of coordinated breeding programme is essential for the survival of the Sumatran tiger. Explain why it is important to the gene pool of Sumatran tigers to move tigers from one zoo to another.[3]
(c)Some animals do not breed well in captivity. List the methods of assisted reproduction that may be used with animals that do not breed well in captivity.[2]

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 2018). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

[3] any 3 of: 1 killed by humans ; 2 difficulty in finding a mate; 3 loss of habitat / habitat fragmentation / habitat polluted / deforestation ; 4 food shortage ; 5 (new) diseases ;
[3] any 3 of: 1 maintains or increases, gene pool / genetic diversity / genetic variation ; 2 maintains or increases, heterozygosity; 3 hybrid vigour; 4 reduces / prevents, inbreeding depression ; 5 reduce chances of harmful recessive alleles coming together ;
[2] any 2 of: 1 IVF or description; 2 embryo transfer ; 3 surrogacy or description; 4 artificial insemination ;

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.