1. Characteristics of Living Things

2. To be considered living you must have certain characteristics and perform certain activities.

3. 1. Made of Cells All living things are made up of one or more cells
Cell – basic unit of structure and function in living things

4. 2. Perform complex chemical activities
Building up and breaking down chemicals
Building up:
Simple Complex
Breaking down:
Complex Simple

5. Metabolism
Sum total of all the chemical reactions that occur in a living thing
BUT WAIT!
Before an organism can metabolize, it needs to get chemicals from it’s environment!

6. Nutrition Taking chemicals from the environment and breaking them down
both consumers and producers need this to survive

7. Consumers: Need to get food from their surroundings
Ingestion - eating, getting food into the body
Digestion - food is broken down into simple substances
Excretion/egestion – getting rid of wastes
Egestion – the removal of feces
Excretion the removal of liquid and gaseous wastes

8. Producers: Make their own food.
Photosynthesis – a process using light to make their own food

9. 3. Growth, Repair and Development:
Growth: An increase in size and number of cells
Repair: The ability of an organism to heal certain wounds
Development: the maturation of an organism
How long an animal lives affects how it grows and develops – about for sexual maturity, 25 years for physical for humans.

10. 4. Movement Necessary to: find food and shelter
avoid possible injury/death
Plants can move certain parts towards sunlight

11. 5. Responding to the Environment
Stimulus – any change in the environment, or surroundings that produces a response from the organism.
Homeostasis – the ability of an organism to maintain a balanced environment inside their bodies
Response – action, movement, or change in behavior
i.e. clap hands next to student.

12. 6. Reproduction: The ability to produce a new organism
Necessary for the survival of the species, not the individual
Two types: sexual (two parents) and asexual (one parent)
Hydra: budding
Amoeba: fission

13. How do we know a car is not living?

14. We know that a car is not living because it does not perform all of the required activities on it’s own