BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF LIVING ORGANISMS

• Definite Organization: Cells are the basic structure of all living things.
• Definite Organization: Cells-tissues-organs-organ systems-organism
• Metabolism: The sum total of chemical reactions that occur within an organism to maintain life.
• Homeostasis: Maintaining internal conditions necessary for survival, such as body temperature, pH level, water balance, etc.
• Reproduction: Ability to produce offspring or new individuals of their own kind.
• Adaptation: Capacity to adjust to changes in environment through evolutionary processes.
• Evolution: Gradual change over time resulting from natural selection acting on genetic variation.
• Natural Selection: Process by which favorable traits become more common in a population due to differential reproduction.
• Genetic Variation: Differences among individuals in inherited characteristics.
• Anabolism - building up phase
• Catabolism - breaking down phase
• Growth and Development - All organisms manifest development by growing in size and shape
• Reproduction - Ability to replicate themselves.
• Sexual - involves sex cells
• Asexual - vegetative propagation of plants or binary fission for bacteria
• Responsiveness - Can stimuli in their environment
• Stimuli came from light, heat, gravity, water, touch, or sound
• Movement: Organism are capable of movement - Plants can move known as tropism
• Phototropism - Growth response of plants toward light
• Geotropism - Growth response of plants toward gravity
• Hormones - Chemical messengers that regulate the growth and development of an organism.
• Genetic Control - All organisms have genetic material (DNA)