Characteristics of Living Organisms

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• Sensitivity responses in animals

  The nervous system provides a complex system of receptors, neurones and effectors which detect and respond to different stimuli using electrical impulses
• Endocrine system


  Allows a response to stimuli using chemical messengers, which travel in the blood, called hormones
• The nervous system and endocrine system allow humans to respond to their environment
• Sensitivity responses in plants


  Responses are controlled by chemicals and are usually much slower
• Geotropism


  A plant's response to gravity which causes the roots to grow down into the soil
• Phototropism


  A plant's response to light which causes shoots to grow towards sunlight
• Phototropism and geotropism allow plants to respond to their environment
• Movement


  An action by an organism causing a change of position or place
• Locomotion


  The movement of an organism from place to place
• Plants cannot move from place to place but can change their orientation
• Sunflowers track the sun throughout the day
• Homeostasis


  The control of an organism's internal environment to keep conditions within required limits
• Thermoregulation


  The control of body temperature
• The optimum human body temperature is 37°C
• If body temperature increases


  Mechanisms for control will be initiated to return the temperature back to the optimum
• Homeostatic mechanisms in humans


  • Thermoregulation
  • Glucoregulation (control of blood glucose levels)
  • Osmoregulation (control of water levels)
• Transpiration


  The process plants use to maintain a suitable temperature, where water evaporates from the stomata on the underside of the leaf, leading to heat loss
• Plants maintain an optimum temperature through transpiration
• Reproduction


  The process that leads to the production of more of the same kind of organism
• Sexual reproduction


  The fusing of two gametes to form a zygote that contains DNA from both parents
• Gametes in humans


  • Male gamete: sperm
  • Female gamete: egg
• Gametes in plants


  • Male gamete: pollen grains
  • Female gamete: ovule
• Asexual reproduction


  Cells or whole organisms can reproduce using only one parent, producing an exact clone with identical DNA
• Examples of asexual reproduction in plants


  • Tubers
  • Budding
  • Runners
• Asexual reproduction in bacteria involves creating exact copies of the parent cell
• Growth


  A permanent increase in size
• In animals, an individual grows larger between the zygote and adult stage with changes in proportion or shape
• In plants, an individual grows larger throughout their whole life with new shoots, leaves, branches etc forming year after year