Characteristics of Living Organisms Flashcards
What acronym can we use to remember the characteristics of living organisms?
Movement
Respiration
Sensitivity
Growth
Reproduction
Excretion
Nutrition
Explain the characteristic of movement.
The ability of organisms to move. Whether that be a whole organism or it only moving one part of its body.
Explain the characteristic of respiration.
This is a set of chemical reactions that take place in our cells to break down nutrient molecules and release energy that we can use for our metabolism.
Metabolism - All the chemical processes that occur within an organism to keep it alive.
Explain the characteristic of sensitivity.
The ability to detect and respond to changes in the internal and external environment.
For example, we are able to detect changes in temperature, and respond by sweating or shivering.
Explain the characteristic of growth.
The ability that organisms can grow and get larger. Or in technical terms, we could describe it as a permanent increase in size and dry mass.
Dry Mass - The mass of an organism once you remove all the water
Explain the characteristic of reproduction.
The process that makes more of the same kind of organism.
Explain the characteristic of excretion.
The removal of the waste products of metabolism, and also substances that are in excess of requirements.
Getting rid of waste products can refer to getting rid of waste products like urea and carbon dioxide which we produce, but don’t really want.
Getting rid of substances in excess of requirements can refer to getting rid of things we sometimes need, but only when we have more than what is required of it. For example, things like water and mineral ions.
Explain the characteristic of nutrition.
Taking in materials for energy, growth and development. For most animals, this basically just means eating or drinking to get all of the nutrients and energy we need. This could also mean absorbing nutrients from the surroundings by either diffusion or active transport.
