Characteristics of Living

Things and Classification

What makes something living?
How do we organize living things?
  Biologist have formulated some list of
characteristics by which we can recognize
living things
 Living things are things that have life in them
 What are some example of living things?
 Humans
 Plant
 Bugs

 What about these things?

Rocks
books
cars
What does it means to be alive?

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE

 Order: organization of life
 Organisms are highly organized, coordinated
structures that consist of one or more cells.
 Even very simple, single-celled organisms are
remarkably complex: inside each cell, atoms
make up molecules; these in turn make up cell
organelles and other cellular inclusions.
 In multicellular organisms, similar cells form
tissues. Tissues, in turn, collaborate to create
organs (body structures with a distinct function).
Organs work together to form organ systems.
 Organization of Living Things

ORGANISM

BODY SYSTEMS

ORGANS
MULTICELLULAR
TISSUES ORGANISMS

CELLS
UNICELLULAR
ORGANISMS ORGANELLES

MOLECULES
 Reproduction
a) Asexual:
 One parent or single celled organism
 Offspring genetically identical (clones)
 Kingdoms:
 Some Fungi, Protista, Monera
b) Sexual:
 Two parents
 Offspring genetically different from parents
 Kingdoms:
 Some Plantae, Animalia
 Metabolism
 Living things have a METABOLISM to help them use
energy to live, grow, and develop.

 All organisms use a source of energy for their metabolic

activities.

 Some organisms capture energy from the sun and convert

it into chemical energy in food; others use chemical energy
in molecules they take in as food.
 Homeostasis
1. Living things maintain HOMEOSTASIS: a stable
internal environment.
2. In order to function properly, cells need to have
appropriate conditions such as proper temperature,
pH, and appropriate concentration of diverse
chemicals e.t.c
• Ex: Your body sweats in order to maintain a proper
internal temperature
• Also, Organisms that live in cold climates, such as the
polar bear, have body structures such as fur that help
them withstand low temperatures and conserve body heat
 Heredity
 Heredity or Hereditary is the process of
passing the traits and characteristics from
parents to offsprings through genes.
 The offspring, get their features and
characteristics that is genetic information from
their mother and father.
 Heredity and genetics are the reason you look
so much like your parents.
 Responsiveness
 Organisms can respond to diverse stimuli
 For example: plants can grow toward a source of
light
 Even tiny bacteria can move toward or away from
chemicals (a process called chemotaxis) or light
(phototaxis)
 Movement toward a stimulus is considered a
positive response, while movement away from a
stimulus is considered a negative response.
Response to stimuli
 Growth and development
 All organisms grow and develop following
specific instructions coded for by their genes.

 These genes provide instructions that will

direct cellular growth and development,
ensuring that a species’ young will grow up to
exhibit many of the same characteristics as its
parents.
 Adaptation
 As a population of organisms interacts with the
environment, individuals with traits that contribute to
reproduction and survival in that particular
environment will leave more offspring.
 Over time those advantageous traits (called
adaptations ) will become more common in the
population. This process, change over time, is called
evolution
 Adaptations frequently involve other properties of
organisms such as homeostasis, reproduction, and
growth and development.
 Life Functions or Processes
1. Nutrition: The process of obtaining food
(nutrients).
 Ingestion –taking food in.

 Digestion- breaking down of food so that it

can be absorbed by the body.

 Egestion- elimination of undigested food

(solid waste).
 Life Functions or Processes
2. Transport : The absorption of materials and
the circulation (distribution) of materials to all
the cells of an organism.

3. Respiration : The chemical activities that

release energy from food.
{Ex. Oxygen + glucose yields carbon dioxide +
water + ENERGY]
 This energy is needed to maintain life.
 Life Functions or Processes
4. Synthesis : “to make” combining simple substances
to make more complex substances, or making
things the body needs.
 [Ex. Starches from simple sugars]

5. Excretion : Getting rid of cellular waste such as CARBON

DIOXIDE(CO2), WATER (H2O) and SALTS (NaCl).

6. Regulation : Responding (or coordinating ) to changes in the

environment to maintain homeostasis. EX: Your pupils dilate
to react to low lighting situation.
 Life Functions or Processes
7. Growth: increase in living matter by increasing
cell size or cell number

8. Reproduction: ability of organisms to form more

of its own kind
*(not needed for an organism’s survival but
necessary for the survival of the species)