A honeybee colony contains thousands of worker bees. Each worker bee moves between flowers to collect nectar, digests the nectar to produce honey, and releases carbon dioxide and water vapour as waste. The colony produces new bees every spring. Identify four characteristics of living organisms shown by the worker bees and, for each one, state the evidence from the information above that supports it.

Cambridge International IGCSE Biology (0610) — 1.1 Characteristics of living organisms · State · 4 marks · View as Markdown

Written & reviewed by James Millett — Biology (Imperial College London), PGCE Science (University of Cambridge).

Model answer (4 marks)

Movement – the worker bee moves between flowers
Nutrition – the worker bee takes in nectar and digests it to obtain energy
Excretion – the worker bee releases carbon dioxide and water vapour as waste
Reproduction – new bees are produced every spring

Examiner tips

  • Use the exact terms ‘movement’, ‘nutrition’, ‘excretion’, ‘reproduction’
  • Give one clear piece of evidence for each characteristic
  • Keep each point short and to the point

Common mistakes

  • Using vague phrases like ‘it moves’ instead of ‘movement’
  • Failing to match the evidence to the correct characteristic

Mark scheme (4 marks)

  1. Movement — the bee moves between flowers
  2. Nutrition — the bee takes in nectar / digests nectar to obtain energy or materials for growth
  3. Excretion — carbon dioxide and water vapour are removed as waste products of metabolism / respiration
  4. Reproduction — new bees are produced every spring

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