What is Life?Characteristics of Living Things

Warm Up

I can… explain the 6 characteristics of life.

Write down your hw!

Warm up: Looking back over yesterday’s stations, what do you think makes something living?

Which of these are living?

BIO= life (components of life)

Currently living, once living or made from something living would all

be BIOTIC

If it doesn’t have components of life, its

ABIOTIC

Living things=

6 Characteristics of Organisms

Cellular organization

Composed of chemicals

Use Energy

Grow & Develop

Respond to surroundings

Reproduce

1. Cellular Organization

-basic unit of structure and function-microscopic (very small so that you need a microscope to see them)-some are bigger ex. Eggs

-made of ONE cell ex. Bacteria

-made of MANY cells (most organisms) ex. YOU-have specialized cells ex. Nerve cells, muscle cells

Made of cells

Unicellular

Multicellular

Plant cells

Animal cells

2. Composed of Chemicals

-most abundant chemical in organisms

-energy source

-building materials

-genetic material (chemical instructions that direct cell activities

Water

Carbohydrates Proteins & Lipids

Nucleic Acids

Water

Carbohydrates

Proteins & Lipids

Nucleic Acids

3. Energy Use

-Cells use energy to keep living things alive

-cells are always hard at work!

-ex. repairing injured tissuesgrowingdigesting

blood delivers oxygen

4. Growth & Development

- The process of becoming larger

- Process of change that occurs during an organism’s life to produce a more complex organism

ex. Cells become specialized

into nerve cells, muscle cells, etc.

**need to use energy to change and grow– not like a pick-up rusting

Growth

Development

5. Response to Surroundings

-organisms react to changes in their environment ex. Plants face the sun, dogs shed fur, etc.

-a change in an organism’s surroundings that causes an organism to react

-an action or change in behavior

**activity

Stimulus (stimuli)

Response

6. Reproduction

-the ability to produce offspringReproduce

Journal: Scientists discover a new substance on a far off planet. The substance appears to move, duplicate, and grow. Further studies determine that the substance is composed of various chemicals. There are no other characteristics. Is this substance an organism? Why or why not. (BE SPECIFIC AND DETAILED)

Life comes from Life

Spontaneous Generation

-many years ago, people believed that living things arose from non-living sources

Ex. Swarms of flies were born from the rotting meat

-Italian doctor-proved in mid 1600’s that spontaneous generation does not occur

-Two tests which are identical in all ways except for one-the changed factor in a controlled experiment

theory

Fracesco Redi

Controlled experiment

Manipulated variable

Redi’s experiment

Pasteur’s experiment

The Needs of Organisms

4 Basic needs must be satisfied

1. Energy

-All organisms need energy-use food as their source-obtain energy in different ways

-Auto ”self” troph “feeder” (self-feeder)-use the food they make as their energy sourceEx. Plants

-hetero “other” troph “feeder (other feeder)-cannot make their own food-eat autotrophs, autotroph’s food, other heterotrophs Ex. Animals, mushrooms, slime molds

autotrophs

heterotophs

Volox: freshwater autotroph

Uses sun’s energy to make

its own food

American

Lobster:

heterotroph

getting energy

by eating a

jellyfish

2. Water

-All organisms need water to: break down food, growth, obtain chemicals, move substances within their bodies, & reproduce

-dissolves more chemicals than any other substances

-liquid blood is 92% water -makes it good for transporting waste out, nutrients in, etc.

3. Living Space

-All organisms need living space to: get food, water and shelter

-limited resources can cause competition between organisms for living space(some even share)

4. Stable Internal Conditions

-changing external conditions requires organisms to maintain stable conditions inside their bodies

-maintenance of stable internal conditions despite outer changes

Ex. Your body temperature should always remain 98.6 degrees F whether its -5 or 87 degrees outside

homeostasis