UTME Biology: Variety of Organisms

• The Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) syllabus in Biology prepares candidates for the Board’s examination.
• The exam tests a candidate's knowledge of diversity, interdependence, and the unity of life.
• It assesses the ability to account for the continuity of life through reorganization, inheritance, and evolution.
• The exam also tests ability to apply biological principles to everyday life, affecting living things, individual, society, the environment, community health, and the economy.

Variety of Organisms

• Objectives include distinguishing between living and non-living things.
• Objectives include identifying plant and animal cell structures.
• Objectives include analyzing the functions of plant and animal cell components.
• Objectives include comparing plant and animal cell structures.
• Objectives include tracing organism organization levels in a logical sequence.
• Candidates should analyze the listed organisms' external features and characteristics.
• Apply knowledge to demonstrate increasing structural complexity.
• Trace the life stages of the listed organisms.
• Use knowledge of life histories to show the gradual transition from aquatic to terrestrial life.
• Trace the evolution of the listed plants.

Form and Functions

• Objectives include identifying transverse sections of plant organs such as the root, stem and leaf.
• Objectives include relating organ structure to function.
• Objectives include identifying supporting tissues in plants
• Objectives include describing the distribution of supporting tissues in roots, stems, and leaves.
• Objectives include examining the arrangement of mammalian internal organs.
• Objectives include describing the appearance and position of digestive, reproductive, and excretory organs.
• Compare autotrophic and heterotrophic nutrition modes.
• Provide examples of autotrophic and heterotrophic from flowering and non-flowering plants.
• Compare photosynthetic and chemosynthetic nutrition modes.
• Differentiate holozoic, parasitic, saprophytic, and carnivorous plant feeding, and determine nutritional value.
• Differentiate light and dark reactions in photosynthesis.
• Determine the necessity of light, carbon (IV) oxide, and chlorophyll in photosynthesis.
• Detect starch in a leaf as photosynthesis evidence.
• Identify essential macro and micro-elements for plants.
• Recognize deficiency symptoms of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
• Indicate food sources from various food groups.
• Determine the nutritional value of foods.
• Relate importance and deficiency effects of food classes like scurvy, rickets and kwashiorkor.
• Determine the importance of a balanced diet.
• Detect a food type from the result of an experiment.
• Describe the structure of a typical mammalian tooth.
• Differentiate tooth types and relate structure to functions.
• Compare the dental formulae of humans, sheep, and dogs.
• Relate alimentary canal structure and accessory organs to their function.
• Identify characteristics of digestive enzymes.
• Associate enzymes with carbohydrate, protein, and fat digestion.
• Determine the final products of food classes.

Transport

• Determine how size and complexity increase the need for transport systems in plants and animals.
• Materials for transportation include excretory products, gases, manufactured food, digested food, nutrients, water, and hormones.
• Determine material sources and transport forms.
• Describe the general circulatory system.
• Compare hepatic portal vein, pulmonary vein/artery, aorta, and renal artery/vein functions.
• Identify plant vascular system organs.
• Understand phloem and xylem functions.
• Transportation media refers to cytoplasm, cell sap, body fluid, blood, and lymph.
• State blood and lymph composition and functions.
• Describe diffusion, osmosis, plasmolysis, and turgidity as transportation mechanisms.
• Compare open circulatory systems, transpiration pull, root pressure, and active transport as transport mechanisms.

Respiration

• The significance of respiration involves explaining significance.
• Give a simplified outline of glycolysis and Krebs cycle noting ATP production.
• Deduce gaseous exchange, products, and heat energy during respiration from an experiment.
• Respiratory organ and surfaces for gaseous exchange in plants and animals include the body surface, gills, trachea, lungs, stomata, and lenticels.
• Stomata opening and closing mechanisms involve describing the mechanism.
• Respiratory mechanisms in plants and animals involve determining mechanisms.
• Roles of oxygen in energy activities in living organisms, examine and explain.
• Effects of insufficient oxygen effects on muscles, explain.
• Yeast and sugar solution demonstrates fermentation.
• Economic importance of yeasts.

Excretion

• Excretion is the removal of metabolic waste
• Types of excretory structures: contractile vacuole, flame cell, nephridium, Malpighian tubule, kidney, stoma, and lenticel.
• Significance of Excretion involves defending the meaning and significance.
• Structures and functions correlate with the characteristics.
• Relate kidney structure to excretory and osmoregulatory functions.
• Functions and excretion by lungs and skin, identify.
• Deduction based on the economic importance of the excretory products of plants.

Support and Movement

• A determination of the needs for support and movement in organisms.
• Identify supporting tissues in plants.
• Describe the distribution of supporting tissues in roots, stems, and leaves.
• Relate to response of plants to stimuli.
• Identify growth regions in roots and shoots.
• Growth regulation in what ways auxins effect tropism.
• Function by relating Chitin, cartilage, and bone supporting function.
• Function by relating structure and skeleton layout locomotive, supportive, and respiratory function.
• Differentiate joints.
• Apply protective skeleton protective, locomotive, and respiratory functions.

Reproduction

• Differentiate between asexual and sexual reproduction.
• Apply natural vegetative propagation in crop production.
• Apply grafting, budding, and layering agricultural practices.
• Relate floral parts to roles in reproduction.
• State the advantages of cross-pollination.
• Placentation develops into simple, aggregate, multiple, succulent fruits.
• Differentiate male and female reproductive organs.
• Relate structure and function reproductive organ production.
• Fusion of gametes described.
• Relate mother's effects to indiscriminate health drug use development.
• Explain modern reproduction regulation methods.

Growth

• Relate the meaning of growth
• Understanding of conditions necessary for germination
• Differentiate between epigeal and hypogeal germination.

Coordination and Control

• The knowledge of the structure and function of the central nervous system in the coordination of body functions in organisms.
• Reflex actions.
• Differentiate between reflex and voluntary actions
• Relate the listed sense organs with their functions.
• Apply the knowledge of the structure and functions of these sense organs in detecting and correcting their defects.
• State the location of the listed endocrine glands in animals.
• Relate the hormone produced by each of these glands to their functions.
• Examine the effects of various phytohormones
• Relate the function of hormones in homeostasis.

Ecology

• Factors affecting the distribution of organisms.
• Effects of temperature, rainfall, relative humidity, wind speed/direction, altitude, salinity, etc.
• Appropriate measuring with equipment of Abiotic factors.
• Activities, plants/animals distributions affecting.
• Symbiotic interactions in plants and animals.
• Determine examples of interactions in plants and animals.
• Explain the distribution of food webs in habitats.
• Defined chains and webs.
• Describe carbon cycle balance and warming importance.
• Assess the water and nitrogen cycles.
• Natural habitats
• Aquatic, Terrestrial/arboreal natural habitats.
• Adaptive features related to the adaptation for their survival in their habitats.

Local Nigerian Biomes

• Biomes located in regions.
• Using local biomes for different regions characteristics in Nigeria.

The Ecology of Populations

• Population changes
• Human Population
• Survival Adaptations
• Population Sizes

Soil

• Able to identify physical properties for different soil types.
• Measurements and water retention measurement for soil types.
• Relate healthy soil types/components for healthy plant growth.
• Relate factors and components of the soil with top soil variety.

Human and Environment

• Ecological conditions favoring the spread of diseases.
• Biology of an agent and their control with spread of a disease.
• Causative organism modes and prevention with treatment.
• Prevention of disease and inoculation control measures
• Pollution identified with method control along with categorization for types
• Relationship between pollutants, health and environment effects
• Pollutants and harmful measures to control
• Emphasize Sanitation and waste control with the spread of personal hygiene
• Functions of health international levels of support roles and assessment

Heredity and variations

• Variation in population morphological differences and physical size variations.
• Environmental conditions that will make up the genetic constitutes of variation with distribution
• Sex linked traits hereditary studies identify and compare results