Biology

BIOLOGY GENERAL OBJECTIVES

The aim of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) syllabus in Biology is to prepare the candidates for the Board’s examination. The syllabus is structured to assess the candidates' understanding and mastery of biological concepts through the following objectives:

  1. Demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the concepts of diversity, interdependence, and unity of life.

  2. Account for the continuity of life through reorganization, inheritance, and evolution.

  3. Apply biological principles and concepts to everyday life, concerning living beings, individuals, society, environment, community health, and economy.

DETAILED SYLLABUS

A: VARIETY OF ORGANISMS

TOPICS / CONTENTS / NOTES

OBJECTIVES

  1. Living organisms:
    a. Characteristics
    b. Cell structure and functions of cell components
    c. Level of organization:
    i. Cell (e.g., euglena and paramecium)
    ii. Tissue (e.g., epithelial tissues and hydra)
    iii. Organ (e.g., onion bulb)
    iv. Systems (e.g., reproductive, digestive, and excretory systems)
    v. Organisms (e.g., Chlamydomonas)

  2. Evolution among the following:
    a. Monera (prokaryotes), e.g., bacteria and blue-green algae
    b. Protista (protozoans and protophyta), e.g., Amoeba, Euglena, and Paramecium
    c. Fungi, e.g., mushrooms and Rhizopus
    d. Plantae (plants):
    i. Thallophyta (e.g., Spirogyra)
    ii. Bryophyta (mosses and liverworts), e.g., Brachmenium and Merchantia
    iii. Pteridophyta (ferns), e.g., Dryopteris
    iv. Spermatophyta (Gymnospermae and Angiospermae):
    - Gymnosperms (e.g., Cycads and conifers)
    - Angiosperms (monocots like maize; dicots like water leaf)
    e. Animalia (animals):
    i. Invertebrates:
    - Coelenterate e.g., Hydra
    - Platyhelminthes (flatworms), e.g., Taenia
    - Nematoda (roundworms)
    - Annelida, e.g., earthworm
    - Arthropoda, e.g., mosquitoes, cockroaches, houseflies, bees, butterflies
    - Mollusca e.g., snails
    ii. Multicellular animals (vertebrates):
    - Pisces (cartilaginous and bony fish)
    - Amphibia, e.g., toads and frogs
    - Reptilia, e.g., lizards, snakes, and turtles
    - Aves (birds)
    - Mammalia (mammals)

CANDIDATES SHOULD BE ABLE TO:

  • Differentiate between the characteristics of living and non-living things.

  • Identify the structures of plant and animal cells.

  • Analyze the functions of the components of plant and animal cells.

  • Compare and contrast the structure of plant and animal cells.

  • Trace the levels of organization among organisms in their logical sequence in relation to the five levels of living organisms.

  • Analyze external features and characteristics of the listed organisms.

  • Apply knowledge from the previous point to demonstrate an increase in structural complexity.

  • Trace the stages in the life histories of the listed organisms.

  • Utilize knowledge of life histories to demonstrate a gradual transition from life in water to life on land.

  • Trace the evolution of the listed plants.

B: FORM AND FUNCTIONS

TOPICS / CONTENTS / NOTES

  1. Internal structure of a flowering plant:
    i. Root
    ii. Stem
    iii. Leaf
    b. Internal structure of a mammal

  2. Nutrition
    a. Modes of nutrition:
    i. Autotrophic
    ii. Heterotrophic
    b. Types of Nutrition
    c. Plant nutrition:
    i. Photosynthesis
    ii. Chemosynthesis
    iii. Mineral requirements (macro and micro-nutrients)
    d. Animal nutrition:
    i. Classes of food substances, including carbohydrates, proteins, fats and oils, vitamins, mineral salts, and water
    ii. Food tests (e.g., starch, reducing sugar, protein, oil, fat etc.)
    iii. The mammalian tooth (structures, types, and functions)
    iv. Mammalian alimentary canal

OBJECTIVES

Candidates should be able to:

  • Identify the transverse sections of the aforementioned organs.

  • Relate the structure of these organs to their functions.

  • Identify supporting tissues in plants (collenchyma, sclerenchyma, xylem, and phloem fibres).

  • Describe the distribution of supporting tissues in roots, stems, and leaves.

  • Examine the arrangement of mammalian internal organs.

  • Describe the appearance and position of digestive, reproductive, and excretory organs.

NUTRITION PROCESS

Candidates should be able to:

  • Compare autotrophic and heterotrophic modes of nutrition.

  • Provide examples from both flowering and non-flowering plants.

  • Compare photosynthetic and chemosynthetic modes of nutrition.

  • Differentiate various examples of heterotrophic feeding, including holozoic (e.g., sheep and man), parasitic (e.g., roundworm, tapeworm, and Loranthus), saprophytic (e.g., Rhizopus and mushrooms), and carnivorous plants (e.g., sundew and bladderwort).

  • Determine the nutritional value of these organisms.

  • Differentiate between light and dark reactions of photosynthesis.

  • Establish the necessity of light, carbon (IV) oxide, and chlorophyll in photosynthesis.

  • Detect the presence of starch in a leaf as evidence of photosynthesis.

  • Identify macro and micro-elements required by plants.

  • Recognize the deficiency symptoms of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.

  • Indicate the sources of various classes of food.

  • Determine the nutritional value of food.

  • Relate the importance and deficiency effects (e.g., scurvy, rickets, kwashiorkor) of each food class.

  • Confirm the importance of a balanced diet.

  • Detect the presence of a food type from experimental results.

  • Describe the structure of a typical mammalian tooth.

  • Differentiate between types of mammalian teeth and relate their structures to functions.

  • Compare the dental formulae of humans, sheep, and dogs.

  • Relate the structure of various components of the alimentary canal and its accessory organs (liver, pancreas, and gall bladder) to their functions.

  • Explain the nutrition process including ingestion, digestion, absorption, and assimilation of digested food.

TRANSPORT

A. Need for transportation
B. Materials for transportation:

  • Excretory products

  • Gases

  • Manufactured food

  • Digested food

  • Nutrients

  • Water

  • Hormones
    C. Channels for transportation:

  • Mammalian circulatory system (heart, arteries, veins, and capillaries)

  • Plant vascular system (phloem and xylem)
    D. Media and mechanisms of transportation

RESPIRATION

  1. Respiratory organs and surfaces

  2. Mechanism of gaseous exchange in:
    i. Plants
    ii. Animals

  3. Aerobic respiration

  4. Anaerobic respiration

OBJECTIVES

Candidates should be able to:

  • Determine the relationship between the increase in size and complexity and the necessity for developing a transport system in plants and animals.

  • Identify sources of materials and the forms in which they are transported.

  • Describe the general circulatory system.

  • Compare specific functions of the hepatic portal vein, the pulmonary vein and artery, aorta, renal artery, and vein.

  • Identify the organs of the plant vascular system.

  • Understand the specific functions of phloem and xylem.

  • Identify media of transportation (e.g., cytoplasm, cell sap, body fluid, blood, and lymph).

  • State the composition and functions of blood and lymph.

  • Describe diffusion, osmosis, plasmolysis, and turgidity as mechanisms of transportation in organisms.

  • Compare the various mechanisms of open circulatory systems in animals, transpiration pull, root pressure, and active transport as mechanisms of transportation in plants.

  • Explain the significance of respiration and describe a simplified outline of the chemical processes involved in glycolysis and the Krebs cycle with reference to ATP production.

  • Demonstrate gaseous exchange and products, along with the heat energy exchange during respiration from experimental setups.

  • Describe various respiratory organs and surfaces (body surface, gills, trachea, lungs, stomata, and lenticels) and their associated organisms.

  • Describe the mechanism for opening and closing stomata and determine respiratory mechanisms in plants and animals.

  • Examine the role of oxygen in liberating energy for living organisms' activities.

  • Explain the effects of insufficient oxygen supply to muscles.

  • Use yeast cells and sugar solutions to demonstrate the process of fermentation and discuss its economic importance.

EXCRETION

  1. Types of excretory structures:

    • Contractile vacuole

    • Flame cell

    • Nephridium

    • Malpighian tubule

    • Kidney

    • Stoma and lenticel

  2. Excretory mechanisms:

    • Kidneys

    • Lungs

    • Skin

  3. Excretory products of plants

SUPPORT AND MOVEMENT

  1. Tropic, tactic, nastic, and sleep movements in plants

  2. Supporting tissues in animals

  3. Types and functions of skeletons:

    • Exoskeleton

    • Endoskeleton

  4. Functions of the skeleton in animals

REPRODUCTION

  1. Asexual reproduction:
    i. Fission (e.g., Paramecium)
    ii. Budding (e.g., yeast)
    iii. Natural vegetative propagation
    iv. Artificial vegetative propagation

  2. Sexual reproduction in flowering plants:
    i. Floral parts and their functions
    ii. Pollination and fertilization
    iii. Products of sexual reproduction

  3. Reproduction in mammals:
    i. Structures and functions of male and female reproductive organs
    ii. Fertilization and development (fusion of gametes)

GROWTH

  • Meaning of growth

  • Germination of seeds and conditions necessary for germination

COORDINATION AND CONTROL

  1. Nervous coordination:
    i. Components, structure, and functions of the central nervous system
    ii. Components and functions of the peripheral nervous system
    iii. Mechanism of impulse transmission
    iv. Reflex action

  2. Sense organs:
    i. Skin (tactile)
    ii. Nose (olfactory)
    iii. Tongue (taste)
    iv. Eye (sight)
    v. Ear (auditory)

  3. Hormonal control:
    i. Animal hormonal system (pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal gland, pancreas, gonads)
    ii. Plant hormones (phytohormones)

  4. Homeostasis:
    i. Body temperature regulation
    ii. Salt and water regulation

OBJECTIVES

Candidates should be able to:

  • Apply the knowledge of conditions necessary for germination on plant growth.

  • Differentiate between epigeal and hypogeal germination.

  • Connect knowledge of the structure and function of the central nervous system to coordinating body functions.

  • Illustrate reflex actions (e.g., blinking of the eyes, knee jerk, etc.).

  • Differentiate reflex actions from voluntary actions and conditioned reflexes (e.g., salivation, riding a bicycle, swimming).

  • Relate the listed sense organs to their functions and apply this knowledge in detecting and correcting defects.

  • State the location of various endocrine glands in animals and relate produced hormones to their functions.

  • Examine effects of various phytohormones on growth, tropism, flowering, fruit ripening, and leaf abscission.

  • Relate the function of hormones in homeostasis.

C: ECOLOGY

TOPICS / CONTENTS / NOTES

OBJECTIVES

  1. Factors affecting the distribution of organisms:
    i. Abiotic
    ii. Biotic

  2. Symbiotic interactions of plants and animals

  3. Energy flow in ecosystems:

    • Food chains, food webs, and trophic levels

    • Nutrient cycling in nature (carbon, water, and nitrogen cycles)

  4. Natural habitats:

    • Aquatic (ponds, streams, lakes, seashores, mangrove swamps)

    • Terrestrial/arboreal (e.g., tree-tops, abandoned farmland, dry grassy fields, burrows)

  5. Local (Nigerian) biomes:

    • Tropical rainforest

    • Guinea savanna (southern and northern)

    • Sudan savanna

    • Desert

    • Highlands (montane forests and grasslands of the Obudu, Jos, and Mambilla Plateaus)

  6. The ecology of populations: a. Population density and overcrowding b. Adaptation for survival (factors causing competition, etc.) c. Factors affecting population sizes:

    • Biotic (food, pest, disease, predation, competition, reproductive ability)

    • Abiotic (temperature, space, light, rainfall, topography, pressure, pH)
      d. Ecological succession:
      i. Primary succession
      ii. Secondary succession

CANDIDATES SHOULD BE ABLE TO:

  • Relate the effects of temperature, rainfall, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, altitude, salinity, turbidity, pH, and edaphic conditions on the distribution of organisms using appropriate measurement equipment (e.g., secchi disc, thermometer, rain gauge).

  • Determine appropriate examples of symbiotic relationships among various organisms.

  • Explain organism distribution using food chains and food webs.

  • Define chains and webs within ecological contexts.

  • Describe the carbon, water, and nitrogen cycles and their significance.

  • Assess how water cycles affect other nutrient cycles.

  • Relate bacteria and leguminous plants' roles in nitrogen cycling.

  • Associate plants and animals with natural habitats.

  • Apply knowledge of biomes in determining the characteristics of Nigerian regions.

  • Determine causes of rapid human population growth and the consequences of overcrowding (e.g., inter-specific and intra-specific competition).

SOIL

  1. Characteristics of different soil types (sandy, loamy, clayey):

    • Soil structure

    • Porosity, capillarity, and humus content

  2. Components of soil:

    • Inorganic

    • Organic

    • Soil organisms

    • Soil air

    • Soil water

  3. Soil fertility:

    • Loss of soil fertility

    • Renewal and maintenance of soil fertility

HUMANS AND ENVIRONMENT

  1. Diseases:

    • Common and endemic diseases

    • Easily transmissible diseases (e.g., poliomyelitis, cholera, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea, syphilis, AIDS)

  2. Drug abuse:

    • Drug addiction

    • Commonly abused drugs

    • Prevention of drug abuse

  3. Pollution and