Living things The characteristics of Life www.juniorscience.ie

Every single living organism carries out the same basic processes – different organisms just carry them out in different ways…. www.juniorscience.ie

nutrition respiration excretion growth reproduction movement and response and www.juniorscience.ie

Nutrition means getting food Plants can make their own food using energy from the sun (photosynthesis) Animals need to find a source of food www.juniorscience.ie

Cell Respiration means releasing energy from food Water Carbon dioxide Oxygen www.juniorscience.ie

means the removal of waste products of chemical reactions in the body Excretion means the removal of waste products of chemical reactions in the body Animals excrete substances like carbon dioxide and urea and water. Plants excrete carbon dioxide from their leaves. NH3 www.juniorscience.ie

the organism develops into an adult Growth means the organism develops into an adult For micro-organisms, this means their cell grows to full size before reproducing For multi-celled organisms, this means that cells divide, organs grow in size, and systems develop maturity www.juniorscience.ie

If living organisms are composed of cells, what do they need in order to grow bigger? … …MORE CELLS !! www.juniorscience.ie

producing more organisms of the species Scientists have a name for the “children” of all living organisms – they say OFFSPRING Reproduction means producing more organisms of the species Some organisms reproduce from one parent only – this is called ASEXUAL reproduction Other organisms reproduce by combining one cell from a male with one cell from a female – this is called SEXUAL reproduction www.juniorscience.ie

Movement means changing position Some organisms can move the entire body e.g. single-celled organisms Some organisms can move part of the body e.g. plants Some organisms can move both their entire body, and each section of the body eg insects, amphibians, reptiles, mammals Most organisms move towards things they need and away from things that harm them www.juniorscience.ie

Response means reacting to changes in their environment Some of the things that cause living organisms to respond are light, sound, touch, chemicals, gravity…eg: Roots grow downwards in response to gravity, shoots grow towards light Both plants and animals use their sense of touch when climbing Predators use sound and smell to hunt for prey www.juniorscience.ie

What do you think? Most animals move about while most plants tend to “stay put” – why? Animals have highly developed nervous systems compared to plants – why? A lot of plants have to use the help or wind or insects for reproduction – why? www.juniorscience.ie

Seven life processes