International A Level Biology / Environment and climate change

Extrapolating data: climate models and their limitations revision notes

Edexcel International A Level Biology (YBI11), chapter 16: Environment and climate change, specification point 5.19. Part of the full course.

Watch the video lesson · International A Level Biology past papers

Extrapolation extends a measured trend into the future, while climate models use data and equations to predict possible climate changes. Their predictions help show how emissions affect warming, but they are uncertain because the climate system and future human choices are complex.

More lessons in Environment and climate change

• Energy transfer between trophic levels
• Gross and net primary productivity
• The carbon cycle
• Using the carbon cycle to reduce atmospheric CO₂
• The greenhouse effect and anthropogenic climate change
• Evidence for climate change: CO2 and temperature records
• Evidence for climate change: pollen in peat bogs and dendrochronology
• The climate debate: correlation, causation and who concludes
• How climate change affects plants and animals
• Temperature, enzymes and Q10
• Core practical 12: temperature and the development of organisms
• Evolution: a change in allele frequency
• Allopatric and sympatric speciation