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NSW Curriculum
NSW Education Standards Authority

11–12Biology 11–12 Syllabus (2025)

Implementation from 2027
Expand for detailed implementation advice

Content

Year 11

Evolution and ecosystems

Relevant Working scientifically outcomes and content must be integrated with each focus area. All the Working scientifically outcomes and content must be addressed by the end of Year 12.

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Natural selection
  • Discuss the role of Loading , inheritance and selective pressures in contributing to the process of evolution by Loading 

  • Use examples to demonstrate how Loading  and Loading  factors exert selective pressures on populations

  • Explain how human-induced changes may function as selective pressures

  • Analyse how evolution causes species diversity

  • Describe examples from Aboriginal palaeontological evidence that demonstrate the existence of Australian megafauna

  • Evaluate the role of isolation and adaptation in the evolution of Australian monotremes and marsupials

  • Conduct a practical investigation to model the processes involved in natural selection

  • Discuss the Loading  of various Loading  that demonstrate natural selection

  • Use examples to explain convergent and divergent evolution

Evolution and adaptations
  • Use plant and animal examples to explain how structural, physiological and behavioural adaptations shaped by evolution enable survival in their environment

  • Conduct a practical investigation to examine structural adaptations for water balance in Australian plants

  • Use examples to explain behavioural adaptations used by Loading  and Loading  to survive in the Australian environment

  • Analyse data to compare how the external environment and body temperature are related in endotherms and ectotherms

  • Explain physiological adaptations of aquatic animals to regulate water and salt balance

  • Explain how Loading  use the adaptations of local plants and animals for specific purposes

  • Use Loading  to compare the Loading  model with the Loading  model of evolution

  • Conduct a secondary-source investigation to analyse how human-induced pressures can drive the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria and Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane (DDT)-resistant mosquitoes

  • Analyse information on how transitional Loading , fossil assemblages and relative dating have provided palaeontological and geological evidence for past changes in life forms

  • Conduct a Loading  to infer evolutionary relationships between species using Loading  and Loading  sequences

  • Evaluate Loading , genetic phylogeny, biogeography and biochemistry as evidence for the theory of evolution by natural selection

Ecosystem dynamics
  • Conduct a practical investigation to collect and analyse abiotic and biotic data, to discuss the features of an Loading 

  • Compare abiotic data from a variety of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems

  • Explain how abiotic and biotic factors influence the abundance, distribution and diversity of species in an ecosystem

  • Compare sampling techniques to estimate distribution and abundance of organisms

  • Conduct a practical investigation to examine the distribution and abundance of a plant or animal using belt Loading , line transect or Loading  sampling techniques

  • Conduct a practical investigation to model the mark-release-recapture method and estimate abundance of mobile organisms

  • Use examples to determine relationships between organisms, including Loading , competition, Loading , Loading , Loading  and Loading 

  • Analyse data on the impact of predator–prey relationships and competition on populations

  • Explain how the Loading  of a selected ecosystem is affected by biotic and abiotic factors

  • Evaluate the validity, Loading  and Loading  of ecological sampling data when drawing conclusions about ecosystem dynamics

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