Characteristics of Living Things. Living Things Have Cells Every living this is made of one or more...
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Transcript of Characteristics of Living Things. Living Things Have Cells Every living this is made of one or more...
CharacteristicsofLiving Things
Living Things Have Cells
Every living this is made of one or more cells (Cell Theory)
Living things can be unicellular or multicellular
Multicellular organisms have specialized cells
Living Things Sense and Respond to Change
Stimuli are the changes in the environment that affect an organism
Stimuli can be chemicals, gravity, darkness, light, sound etc
The organism’s response can be voluntary or involuntary
Organisms need a balanced internal environment. In humans, temperature and chemicals need to be stable. This state of balance is called homeostasis
Living Things Reproduce
There are two ways organisms make more organisms
- Asexual Reproduction is where one parent produces identical offspring. Most single cell organism reproduce this way
- Sexual Reproduction requires two parents who produce offspring with the characteristics of both parents. Plants and animals reproduce this way.
Living Things Have DNA
The cells of all living things have DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA provides instructions for making proteins
Proteins are important to almost all of a cell’s activities and determines characteristics.
Heredity
When organisms reproduce they pass copies of their DNA to their offspring
Heredity is why offspring resemble their parents
Living Things Use Energy
Living things use energy to carry out life’s activities
These activities include making food, breaking down food, moving materials in and out of cells, and building and repairing cells
Metabolism is the total chemical activities that the cell performs
Living Things Grow & Develop All living things grow - Single celled organisms grow larger cells until
they get too big and divide - Multicellular organisms increase their number
of cells Many living things change as they grow
Can you identify the characteristics of life?
http://www.exploratorium.edu/imaging_station/students/Characteristics_Student.doc
We’ll look at some videos of microscopic cells and organisms.
Write the characteristics of life you see on your handout!