Ch2: Characteristics of Life Flashcards
What is an organism?
A living thing
What is metabolism?
The sum of all the chemical reactions in an organism
e.g. growth, movement, response
What is continuity of life?
Living things arise from other living things of the same type
e.g. meat and maggots example
How do we know if something is living?
The following characteristics are ALL present:
Nutrition
Excretion
Response
Respiration
Organisation
What is organisation?
Living things are composed of cells, tissues, organs and organ systems
What is the source of energy for all nutrition
The sun
What is nutrition?
The way organisms obtain and use food
-Living things require energy
What is excretion?
The removal of waste products of metabolism from the body
Why and how do organisms excrete?
-Living things must remove toxic materials that could damage the organism
-Plants make very little waste and excrete through stomata
-Animals excrete through skin, lungs and urinary system
What is responde?
The way in which all living things react to changes in their environment
e.g. Animals use eyes/ ears to respond to stimuli quickly
e.g. Plants have slower responses like when they grow towards a light source
What is adaptation?
Plants and animals change in response to long-term changes in their environment (Darwin’s Theory)
What is reproduction?
The production of new individuals
What is sexual reproduction?
The joining of two sex cells (gametes) formed by two parents
-The offspring will have genetic information from both parents
What is asexual reproduction?
Simple organisms split into two or more identical offspring
