NEET Practice Questions (MCQs) with Answers & Solutions

The NCERT text asks, 'The female mosquito is not considered a parasite, although it needs our blood for reproduction. Can you explain why?' While the specific explanation isn't given there, the general characteristic of parasitic interaction is that the interacting species live closely together. A mosquito takes blood meal episodically, rather than living closely with or on the host for a prolonged duration, which is a key distinction from what is typically defined as parasitism in this context (e.g., a plant deriving nutrition from a host or an endoparasite living inside a host).

The NCERT text explicitly states: 'Predation, parasitism and commensalism share a common characteristic– the interacting species live closely together.'

The NCERT text describes: 'Brood parasitism in birds is a fascinating example of parasitism in which the parasitic bird lays its eggs in the nest of its host and lets the host incubate them.'

The NCERT text states: 'During the course of evolution, the eggs of the parasitic bird have evolved to resemble the host’s egg in size and colour to reduce the chances of the host bird detecting the foreign eggs and ejecting them from the nest.'

The NCERT text describes Cuscuta as having 'lost its chlorophyll and leaves in the course of evolution. It derives its nutrition from the host plant which it parasitises.'

Under 'Sporozoans', the NCERT text states: 'The most notorious is Plasmodium (malarial parasite) which causes malaria, a disease which has a staggering effect on human population.'

The NCERT text mentions: 'Flagellated protozoans: The members of this group are either free-living or parasitic. They have flagella. The parasitic forms cause diaseases such as sleeping sickness. Example: Trypanosoma.'

The NCERT text under 'Kingdom Fungi' states: 'White spots seen on mustard leaves are due to a parasitic fungus.'

Under 'Amoeboid protozoans', the NCERT states: 'Some of them such as Entamoeba are parasites.'

According to the NCERT text, 'From the graph, we can see that in the region between O to A, the curve is linear. In this region, Hooke’s law is obeyed. The body regains its original dimensions when the applied force is removed. In this region, the solid behaves as an elastic body.'