Characteristics of Life

Life Definition/Example
Characteristic
Sensitivity Living things are able to respond to the environment through a stimulus.
Irritability is an example. Another example is a living thing’s response to
light
by facing the sun and sweating as our body response to heat which is also
connected to excretion.
Reproduction Unicellular organisms reproduce by DNA replication and dividing equally
as the new cell prepares to form two new cells while multicellular
organisms often reproduce using its gametes in order to form new
individuals. When there is reproduction, genes with DNA will passed from
generation to generation to make sure that the offspring belong to the
same species having similar characteristics.
Growth and Organisms grow and develop according to its genes that gives instruction
Development that will direct the cellular growth and development ensure that the
offspring will grow up and manifest many of the same characteristics from
the parents.
Mitosis and meiosis play an important role in this matter.
Nutrition Living things take in minerals and food from the environment in order to
survive and grow. It is the process of which organism obtain energy and raw
materials from nutrients such as fats, carbohydrates and proteins.
Respiration It is the process in which the energy from the food eaten is being released
in al living cells. Organisms break down the food within their cells with a
specific process to carry out the following processes.
Movement All living things move. Animals move from one place to another. Plants
also move but not as usually observable than animals. Plants move in
different ways in order to grow and their movement may be so slow that
people cannot even recognize. A Makahiya leaf being touched is an
example of
movement through thigmotrophism
Excretion All living things also excrete but in different ways. Excretion is the result of
many chemical reactions happening in cells which they have to remove the
waste products which might poison the cells. Excretion is the removal of
toxic minerals in excess from the organism.
 Case Analysis
With the given concept above, answer the following situations with the characteristics of
life. Write your answer on the second table.

Statement Characteristic of Life

Jannine married Frank after dating for four years.
After 2 months, Jannine thought she just had
Reproduction
difficulty having menstruation then
she found out she was pregnant.
You throw a piece of seed into your backyard. After
a few weeks, there was a
seedling started to grow.

Stomata are small openings present on plant leaves.

On a hot dry day, the stomata openings remain
closed to reduce the loss of water. Which
characteristic of living things is
described here?
Puppies have inherited genes from both parents and
share many of the same
characteristics.

Eggs—tadpoles—adult frogs

Snakes shed their skin.

Mary was running fast because she was late

in her Biology class. When she entered the
classroom, she was sweating a lot.

pollen carried from flower to flower

A triathlon ate plenty of fruits and vegetable

as a preparation for his competition next week.

Guttation in plants gradually happen.