|  | Public Health Safety | Public Health

The Effects of Temperature on Cellular Respiration

All living things obtain the energy they need from a cellular process called respiration, a physiological process in which simple food molecules such as sugar are broken down by the body's cells to produce energy.

  1. Significance

    • Respiration is the complex series of reactions occurring in all living cells, in which simple sugar molecules are broken down by body's cells to produce energy in the form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) molecules.

    Relation between Temperature and Cellular Respiration

    • Normally, cellular respiration rate increases as the temperature of the environment rises, and when the environment cools, the respiration rate drops.

    Mechanism

    • Temperature can be represented as the average kinetic energy of certain groups of molecules. Therefore, it can be speculated that cellular activities are greatly influenced by temperature range, as will the rate of cellular respiration.

    Occurrence in Plants

    • In plants, some of these ATP molecules are utilized during photosynthesis to produce sugar.

    Occurrence in Multi-cellular organisms

    • Multi-cellular organisms mainly respire aerobically using sugar and oxygen, producing carbon dioxide, water and energy as byproducts.

Public Health - Related Articles