6 Characteristics of Living Things

1. Living Things Have 1 or More Cells. Every organism is made up of one or more cells one-celled organisms are called _____________ Examples are: _______________________ organisms with more than 1 cell are called _______________. Examples are: _______________________________. unicellular bacteria, yeast, amoeba multicellular humans, plants, mushrooms

What's a Cell? A membrane-covered structure that separates an organism from its environment. Cells have everything necessary for_____. Cells are generally too _______ to be seen by the naked eye. life small

2. Living Things Respond to Stimuli A stimulus is a change in an organism’s environment that affects the activity of the organism. All organisms sense stimuli in their environment and respond. Examples : ___________________________________________ What do you do when it’s cold outside? Feeling cold is a _________ and shivering is the __________. light, odors, sounds, weather stimulus response

Homeostasis Organisms respond to stimuli to maintain a stable internal environment called homeostasis because many chemical reactions require balanced environments. Example: Your body maintains a temperature of about 37°C (98.6°F). When you’re hot you sweat; when you’re cold you shiver; this is your body trying to return things to normal.

3. Living Things Reproduce Asexual Reproduction – one parent; offspring are identical to the parent Sexual Reproduction – two parents; offspring have characteristics of both parents

4. Living Things Have DNA DNA stands for Deoxyribonucleic acid DNA encodes _______ which are the blueprint for life. genes

5. Living Things Use Energy Energy is required to carry out all day-to-day activities.  Examples of activities that require energy: _____________________________________ walking, thinking, digesting food

6. Living Things Grow and Develop All organisms grow during periods of their lives. They develop or change in form as they grow.

Necessities of Life

1. Food All living things need food because it gives them _______to carry out day-to-day activities.  ___________ – make their own food.  ___________ – eat other organisms to get food.  ___________ – break down nutrients in dead organisms or animal waste. energy producers consumers decomposers

2. Water Probably the single most important compound on Earth.  ~_____ of the content of cells is water  Used in all chemical reactions in the cell 70 %

3. Air _________ – needed by most animals and plants; used in the chemical process called cellular respiration that releases energy from food. _______________– needed by plants, algae and some bacteria; used to convert the energy of sunlight into food in a process called __________________. oxygen carbon dioxide photosynthesis

4. A Place to Live All living things must have somewhere to live that contains: ____________________ Space is limited  Organisms often compete with each other for food, water and other necessities. Even plants compete with each other for living space and access to water and sunlight. Food, water and air