International A Level Biology / Environment and climate change

Temperature, enzymes and Q10

Edexcel International A Level Biology (YBI11), chapter 16: Environment and climate change, specification point 5.21. Part of the full course.

Read the revision notes · International A Level Biology past papers

Temperature affects enzyme activity, which changes how quickly organisms carry out processes such as photosynthesis, respiration, growth and decay. The temperature coefficient, Q₁₀, compares reaction rates at temperatures 10 °C apart.

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
• Extrapolating data: climate models and their limitations
• How climate change affects plants and animals
• Core practical 12: temperature and the development of organisms
• Evolution: a change in allele frequency
• Allopatric and sympatric speciation