Cambridge IGCSE Biology 0610 · Topic 16
Reproduction
Reproduction is where the syllabus finally asks you to hold two different reproductive strategies in your head at once and compare them properly. Everything in this chapter branches from one starting fork: does an offspring come from one parent with no fusion of gametes, or from two gamete nuclei fusing together? Once you know which side of that fork a question is on, the rest of the chapter — flowers, humans, hormones, infections — is really just that one idea worked out in different bodies.
Cambridge opens Topic 16 with the two fundamental modes of reproduction, asexual and sexual, then spends the rest of the chapter following sexual reproduction through two very different organisms: flowering plants and humans. In plants, that means flower structure, pollination, self- and cross-pollination, the pollen tube and the conditions a seed actually needs to germinate. In humans, it means the reproductive organs themselves, the sperm and egg cells they produce, fertilisation, the early embryo, the structures that keep a fetus alive, and the hormones — testosterone, oestrogen, FSH, LH and progesterone — that coordinate all of it. The chapter closes with sexually transmitted infections, where HIV is the pathogen Cambridge actually expects you to be able to discuss by name.
Most marks lost in this chapter aren’t lost to bad biology — they’re lost to blurred vocabulary. Pollination is not fertilisation. A zygote is not an embryo. Oestrogen does not directly trigger ovulation; the LH surge does. Cambridge’s mark schemes are built around exactly these distinctions, so the pages below are written to keep them precise rather than to add extra facts you don’t need.
What’s in this chapter
| Page | Level | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Asexual reproduction | Core + Supplement | One parent, no fusion of gametes, identical offspring — and when that trade-off actually pays off in the wild or on a farm. |
| Sexual reproduction | Core + Supplement | What fertilisation actually is, why haploid gametes make a diploid zygote, and why variation is the whole point. |
| Sexual reproduction in plants | Core + Supplement | The topic hub for flower structure, pollination and germination — start here if you want the plant-reproduction pathway in order. |
| Flower structure | Core | Every labelled part of an insect-pollinated flower, and the function that earns each one its own mark. |
| Pollination and fertilisation in plants | Core + Supplement | Insect versus wind pollination, self versus cross-pollination, and the pollen tube that finally makes fertilisation happen. |
| Seed germination | Core | The three conditions a seed actually needs, why each one matters, and how to design a fair test for them. |
| Sexual reproduction in humans | Core + Supplement | The topic hub for the human reproductive system, gametes, fertilisation and pregnancy — start here for the human pathway. |
| Human reproductive system | Core | Every structure in the male and female reproductive systems, and the one function each is actually marked on. |
| Sperm and egg cells | Core | Why sperm and egg cells look nothing alike, and how to explain each adaptation as feature, function, then advantage. |
| Fertilisation, implantation and pregnancy | Core + Supplement | From zygote to embryo to a fetus the placenta, cord and amniotic fluid all have to keep alive. |
| Sex hormones in humans | Core | Testosterone and oestrogen at puberty, and how they set up the hormone system the menstrual cycle runs on. |
| Menstrual cycle and hormones | Core + Supplement | The ovary and uterus changes Core candidates need, plus the FSH–oestrogen–LH–progesterone chain Supplement candidates are tested on. |
| Sexually transmitted infections | Core | What actually makes an infection an STI, the difference between HIV and AIDS, and which control measure fits which route. |
Core or Supplement?
Most of this chapter is Core, so every candidate needs asexual and sexual reproduction in outline, flower structure, pollination, germination, the human reproductive system, gamete adaptations, fertilisation, the fetal support structures, puberty hormones, the menstrual cycle in outline, and sexually transmitted infections. Supplement candidates add several precise extra layers on top of that Core base: the advantages and disadvantages of each reproductive mode, haploid gametes and the diploid zygote, self-pollination versus cross-pollination and their effects, pollen tube growth, placental exchange, and the FSH–oestrogen–LH–progesterone control of the menstrual cycle. Each page below states which parts are Core and which are Supplement as you reach them, so you can see exactly where your own tier’s requirement stops.