The definition of symbiosis is controversial among ecologists; some regard symbiosis
should only refer to mutual-isms, while others believe it should apply to any types of
biological interaction. What do you think about the meaning of symbiosis? Compare concisely between metabolic
symbiosis and parasitism with named examples.
Q5. As you are an ecology student, can you explain to your friends who do not study
ecology some main reasons why Hong Kong has rich and diverse flora?
Q6. If you had visited some European countries, when you go to the old forests in this
region, you may be surprised to find that the forest floor usually contains much
thicker litter layer than you normally observe in the local forest floor. Can you give
some reasons for this phenomenon?
Q7. When you visit the country parks, you often find made-made forests called
plantations in the water catchment areas and some natural secondary forests on the
hillsides. You may observe there are some contrasting characteristics between these
two types of forests. Compare concisely the main characteristics of an old secondary
forest with those of a plantation of similar age.
Q8. As you live in Hong Kong, you must have visited some of our country parks and
urban parks. Can you give some major differences between country parks and urban
parks?
4
Section B
Long questions
The long questions consisting of writing two essays, each carries 30 marks.
Planning essays
First you should write out a plan for the essay, where you select appropriate information
including examples and diagrams, and organize your information in a logical sequence
before writing your essay. To plan your essay, you can either write short paragraphs in
note form with key words or concepts, or present in a flow diagram which shows the
linking of the main ideas. The style of a plan is your personal choice, but the plan is
necessary for you to develop a good, coherent essay, because you can adjust and improve
on as you develop the essay during the planning stage.
On planning your essays, first read through the essay title carefully. You will need to
select information from Unit 1 for Q9 and Unit 2 for Q10. So you must read these units
before answering these two questions. You are expected to write a discussion and try to
reach a general conclusion about the subject of the essay. You must support your ideas or
arguments with examples. This plan should be not more than 200 words.
Writing essays
After you have identified the range of topics appropriate for the essays, you can now
determine about the sequence you will discuss them and proportion of essay you will
allocate to each topic or main idea.
Remember that an essay should open with an introduction where you can establish the
range of topics and end with a conclusion which draws together the main ideas you have
presented in your ideas or arguments.
To sum up, your essay should have a PLAN outlining the introduction, main body and
conclusion. Your ESSAY should have an introduction, main body and conclusion which
describes or discusses the content in details with distinct headings.
Your essays should be written in proper sentences and paragraphs following the sequence
developed in your plan. You should include simple drawings and diagrams where you
think they help to explain your idea or arguments. Again, you must not copy any detailed
diagrams or large paragraphs from the course materials or from the Internet. You are
asked for an essay of about 1,200 words, so you must be selective in the information you
choose to include, especially in the main body. You have to organize information
5
logically and relevantly as the presentation style can gain marks. Please refer the
following allocation of marks for the essays.
Allocation of marks for Q9 and Q10 in this section
PLAN (Introduction, main body, conclusion in short note form or flow chart)
Q9. Write an essay to critically discuss the statement ‘Ecology is the study of the
interaction between organisms and their environment’.
To answer Q9, please note this question is an argumentative essay. In this essay, you
not only have to give information but also present an argument with the pros
(supporting ideas) and cons (opposing ideas) of an argumentative issue. You should
state whether you agree or disagree with the statement, so you must select
information and examples from Unit 1 to support your argument if you agree with
the statement or vice versa. You must be aware that there are different levels of
organization for organisms (see p. 5 of Unit 1) and both antibiotic and biotin
environment are involved.
Q10. What are the major factors affecting the distribution of varied and diverse terrestrial
habitats in Hong Kong? (30 marks)
To answer this question, please note both major abiotic and biotic factors in local
conditions and various local terrestrial habitats in Unit 2 are involved.