Characteristics Of Living Organisms

By Free Exam Academy September 11, 2018

Characteristics of living organisms

Every living organism have certain traits that it needs to be demonstrating in order for it to
classify as “living”. There are 7 characteristics that we need to go through. If even a single one of
these characteristics are not present in an organism, then it not alive.

1. Movement – An action by an organism or part of an organism causing a change of

position or place
2. Respiration – The chemical reactions in cells that break down nutrient molecules and
release energy for metabolism
3. Sensitivity – The ability to detect or sense stimuli in the internal or external environment
and to make appropriate responses
4. Growth – Permanent increase in size and dry mass by an increase in cell number or cell
size or both
5. Reproduction – The processes that make more of the same kind of organism
6. Excretion – Removal from organisms of the waste products of metabolism (chemical
reactions in cells including respiration), toxic materials, and substances in excess of
requirements
7. Nutrition -Taking in of materials for energy, growth and development; plants require
light, carbon dioxide, water and ions; animals need organic compounds and ions and
usually need water

Concept and use of classification system

Organisms can be classified into groups by features that they share. Classification systems aim to
therefore classify groups of organisms in a systemic way, in order to reflect their evolutionary
relationships.

Before the advance of technology and science, classification was traditionally based on
morphology and anatomy. Basically this means that if certain organisms “looked” similar and
shared similar features, then they would be classified under the same umbrella. But it is
important to understand that now, we can more accurately classify organisms by analyzing their
DNA (rather than look at appearance alone). Organisms which share similar DNA base
sequences and protein amino acid sequences are more likely to be closely related.

Every organism has a scientific name. The binomial system is an

internationally agreed system in which the scientific name of an organisms is
made up of two parts (Genus & Species). The Genus is a generic term used
in the classification of living organisms or binomial nomenclature and
species is a group of organisms that can reproduce to produce fertile
offspring.
For example: Homo sapiens

It is important to understand here that Homo represents the genus and is always starts in capital
letters. Sapiens is the species and is all lower case and in italics.

Features of organisms
All organisms are made of cells. Although the cellular structure may be different depending on
the type of organism, there are certain things that are universally shared across every single
organism:

 Cytoplasm
 Cell membrane
 DNA
 Ribosomes
 Enzymes

Now, we can actually organize every single organism into 5 main categories called “kingdoms”.
Here are the 5 kingdoms that you need to know:

 Animal (i.e. Lion)

 Plant (i.e. Tree)
 Fungus (i.e. Yeast)
 Prokaryote (i.e. Bacteria)
 Protoctist (i.e. Marimo)

You need to know the features of these 5 kingdoms so that for a given example of an organism,
you can determine the kingdom it belongs in. Here is a simple table to help you.
Now that we understand the features of the 5 kingdoms, we can actually branch further. The
syllabus wants you to understand how to classify different “types” of animals and plants. In the
animal kingdom, animals they can further be classed as vertebrates (with backbone) or
invertebrates (no backbone).

In the plant kingdom, plants can be classed into either flowering plants or ferns. The table below
(Oxford Revision Guide 2018) demonstrates the further classification of both the animal and the
plant kingdom.
Dichotomous keys
A dichotomous key is a tool that allows the user to determine the identity of items in the natural
world, such as trees, wildflowers, mammals, reptiles, rocks, and fish. Keys consist of a series of
choices that lead the user to the correct name of a given item.

For example, use the key to answer the question

1. Wings present ……………………………………… Go to 2

Wings absent ……………………………………….. Go to 3
2. One pair of wings visible ………………………………. A
Two pairs of wings visible …………………………….. B
3. Three pairs of legs …………………………………………. C
Two pairs of legs …………………………………………… D
Since this insect has wins, and has two pairs visible, the answer is B!