Edexcel GCSE Biology 1BI0
Key Concepts in Biology
Cells and Control
Genetics
Natural Selection and Genetic Modification
Health, Disease and the Development of Medicines
Plant Structures and Their Functions
Animal Coordination, Control and Homeostasis
Exchange and Transport in Animals
Ecosystems and Material Cycles
Animal Coordination, Control and Homeostasis
- 11 subtopics
- 33 things to know
- Paper 2
What Animal Coordination, Control and Homeostasis covers
Animal Coordination, Control and Homeostasis is examined in Paper 2, Biology 2. It covers hormones, endocrine glands and homeostasis, adrenalin, thyroxine and negative feedback, the menstrual cycle and its hormones, hormonal and barrier contraception, clomifene and IVF, thermoregulation, blood glucose control and type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes and body mass, the urinary system and urea, the nephron and ADH, and dialysis and kidney transplants.
Where it is assessed
Paper 2
Biology 2: 1 hour 45 minutes, 100 marks, 50% of the GCSE.
Check the Pearson Edexcel specification ↗The 11 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Hormones, endocrine glands and homeostasisHormones as chemical messengers carried in the blood to target organs with specific receptors, the pituitary, thyroid, pancreas, adrenal glands, testes and ovaries and what they release, homeostasis and the changes it responds to, and receptors, coordination centres and effectors.Open →
- Adrenalin, thyroxine and negative feedbackHow adrenalin from the adrenal glands prepares the body for fight or flight by raising heart rate, blood pressure, blood flow to the muscles, blood glucose and breathing rate, thyroxine and metabolic rate, and negative feedback control of thyroxine through TRH and TSH.Open →
- The menstrual cycle and its hormonesThe stages of the 28-day menstrual cycle from menstruation to ovulation, oestrogen thickening and progesterone maintaining the uterus lining, the roles of FSH and LH from the pituitary gland and progesterone from the corpus luteum, and how these hormones interact to control ovulation and start the next cycle.Open →
- Hormonal and barrier contraceptionHow oestrogen and progesterone in hormonal contraception prevent pregnancy, pills, injections, implants and patches, condoms and diaphragms as barrier methods, the advantages and disadvantages of each, and what perfect-use and typical-use effectiveness figures show.Open →
- Assisted reproductive technology and IVFAssisted reproductive technology, clomifene therapy and how it raises FSH and LH to trigger ovulation, the stages of IVF and why FSH and LH are given, and why IVF often fails and the risk of multiple pregnancy.Open →
- Homeostasis and thermoregulationThermoregulation and why enzymes fail when the body is too hot or too cold, osmoregulation and animal cells in dilute or concentrated solutions, the hypothalamus and temperature receptors, the dermis and epidermis, sweating, hair erector muscles and shivering, and how vasoconstriction and vasodilation control heat loss.Open →
- Controlling blood glucose, and type 1 diabetesHow the pancreas releases insulin to lower blood glucose by storing it as glycogen, why levels rise after meals and fall in exercise, glucagon raising blood glucose and working antagonistically with insulin by negative feedback, and the cause, onset, symptoms and insulin treatment of type 1 diabetes.Open →
- Type 2 diabetes and body massThe cause and risk factors of type 2 diabetes, how it differs from type 1 and is controlled, calculating body mass index and waist to hip ratio and their limits, correlation and cause, and scatter diagrams showing positive, negative or no correlation with lines of best fit.Open →
- The urinary system and the production of ureaThe kidneys, ureters, bladder and urethra, the renal artery and vein, nephrons, and how the liver breaks down excess amino acids into toxic urea that the kidneys excrete in urine.Open →
- The nephron, filtration and the effect of ADHFiltration in the glomerulus and Bowman's capsule, why proteins and blood cells stay in the blood, selective reabsorption of glucose by active transport and water by osmosis, and how ADH from the pituitary gland acts on the collecting duct to control urine volume and concentration by negative feedback.Open →
- Treating kidney failure: dialysis and transplantsWhy kidney failure is dangerous, how dialysis removes urea by diffusion and why dialysis fluid contains glucose and salts, the disadvantages of dialysis, and the advantages of a kidney transplant and how rejection is reduced.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Describe the cause of type 2 diabetes, the difference from type 1, and the treatments used.
Explain how the effects of adrenalin prepare the body for fight or flight.
Explain the roles of oestrogen and progesterone after ovulation and how the next cycle begins.
What is a hormone?
Explain how oestrogen given as a contraceptive prevents pregnancy.
Outline the main stages of IVF treatment.
Which hormone is released when blood glucose concentration rises too high, and by which organ?
Name the main organs and tubes that make up the urinary system.
Explain why liquid is forced out of the blood in the glomerulus.
What happens to the blood if a person's kidneys fail?
What is meant by the target organ of a hormone?
Which glands release adrenalin, and in what kind of situation is it released?
What happens during roughly the first five days of the menstrual cycle?
Explain how hormonal contraception can make the uterus unsuitable for pregnancy.
Why is FSH given before eggs are collected for IVF?
What is thermoregulation?
Explain why blood glucose concentration falls during hard exercise.
What causes type 2 diabetes?
Which blood vessel carries blood into a kidney, and which carries blood away from it?
Which substances pass out of the blood into the Bowman's capsule?
What is kidney dialysis?
Which gland lies just beneath the brain and releases hormones that control several other endocrine glands?
Explain how an increased heart rate helps the body during the fight or flight response.
What is ovulation, and when does it usually happen in a 28-day cycle?
Explain why a contraceptive pill has to be taken regularly to work.
Why is LH also given during IVF treatment?
Explain why enzymes stop working if body temperature rises too far above normal.
Which hormone is released when blood glucose concentration falls too low?
How does type 2 diabetes differ from type 1 in terms of insulin production?
Explain why amino acids that are not needed have to be broken down.
What is meant by selective reabsorption?
Explain how urea is removed from the blood during dialysis.
Take Animal Coordination, Control and Homeostasis further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Insulin vs Glucagon
Insulin: pancreatic hormone making liver cells store glucose as glycogen. Glucagon: pancreatic hormone making the liver break glycogen down into glucose.
Type 1 diabetes vs Type 2 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes: immune system destroys the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. Type 2 diabetes: body cells stop responding properly to insulin.
Vasodilation vs Vasoconstriction
Vasodilation: widening of vessels supplying skin capillaries to lose heat. Vasoconstriction: narrowing of vessels supplying skin capillaries to conserve heat.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What is a hormone?
Model answer
A hormone is a chemical messenger made by an endocrine gland and carried around the body in the blood.
- 2
How does a hormone travel from the gland that makes it to the part of the body it affects?
Model answer
It is released straight into the bloodstream and carried dissolved in the blood plasma.
- 3
What is meant by the target organ of a hormone?
Model answer
The target organ is the organ a hormone acts on, because its cells carry receptors that the hormone binds to.
- 4
Which gland lies just beneath the brain and releases hormones that control several other endocrine glands?
Model answer
The pituitary gland.
- 5
Where in the body is the thyroid gland found, and which hormone does it release?
Model answer
It is found in the neck, and it releases thyroxine.
- 6
Which organ lying behind the stomach releases hormones that control blood glucose?
Model answer
The pancreas.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Animal Coordination, Control and Homeostasis revision questions
- What does Animal Coordination, Control and Homeostasis cover in Edexcel GCSE Biology?
- 11 subtopics: hormones, endocrine glands and homeostasis, adrenalin, thyroxine and negative feedback, the menstrual cycle and its hormones, hormonal and barrier contraception, assisted reproductive technology and ivf, homeostasis and thermoregulation, controlling blood glucose, and type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes and body mass, the urinary system and the production of urea, the nephron, filtration and the effect of adh and treating kidney failure: dialysis and transplants. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Animal Coordination, Control and Homeostasis organised?
- By the Edexcel 1BI0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Animal Coordination, Control and Homeostasis, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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