CHARACTERISTICS OF ALL LIVING THINGS BIOLOGY- the study of life “bio” -means life “ology”- the study of ORGANISM- a living thing- Must be able to do the following 6 functions in order to be considered living.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ALL LIVING THINGS All living things are MADE OF CELLS. UNICELLULAR ORGANISMS (one cell) – examples are bacteria, protists MULTICELLULAR ORGANISMS(many cells)- examples are plants, animals, fungi DIFFERENTIATION- the ability of a cell to change and specialize in a specific function

CHARACTERISTICS OF ALL LIVING THINGS All living things are HIGHLY ORGANIZED. Each cell has a variety of organelles (little organs) that perform a specific function. Some organisms have whole organ systems to perform a function.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ALL LIVING THINGS All living things USE ENERGY. METABOLISM- the use of energy to breakdown (catabolism) or build (anabolism) AUTOTROPHS- can produce their own food by photosynthesis (plants and some protists) HETEROTROPHS- must take food in from an outside source- (animals, fungi, bacteria)

CHARACTERISTICS OF ALL LIVING THINGS All living things MAINTAIN a stable internal environment called HOMEOSTASIS. Examples are body temperature, amount of water.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ALL LIVING THINGS All living things GROW AND DEVELOP. Most organisms have to mature before reproducing Example- frogs have to go through the tadpole stage perform reproduction can occur

CHARACTERISTICS OF ALL LIVING THINGS All living things must REPRODUCE. Pass down hereditary information in the form of DNA to offspring. ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION- DNA from one parent to offspring (example: a bacterium splitting into 2 bacteria) SEXUAL REPRODUCTION- takes the DNA from 2 parents to create offspring (examples: mammals, fish, insects, and some plants)