Characteristics of Living Things Lesson Outline What do living things have in common?

n? o Move o Respond to stimuli o Grow o Feed o Produce energy o Gets rid of poisonous waste o Produce offspring o Made of cells Movement: How do animals/plants move? o Through muscles controlled by nerves o Plants movement can be seen on a cellular level through a microscope Respond to stimuli: types of stimuli o Touch o Chemical (when tasting, responding to chemicals in mouth) o Heat o Light (see something, respond to light in eye) o Sound o Plants: grow in direction or light, respond to touch, close up when touched, plants do it slower than animals no muscles or nerves Grow: Do we all grow forever? o Plants grow for life o Animals/humans grow till about 18 years of age, but will continue to renew itself Feed: terms (gestion means to carry out) o Animals take food Ingestion: taken by mouth _in- (inside) Digestion: broken down to soluble form _di-(through) Egestion: undigested food leaves the body _e-(out, exit) o Plants make their own food: through CO2, water and light (process is called photosynthesis) Green pigment (chlorophyll) enables plants to use light for energy Autotrophs: Plants that make their own food (auto-self.trophs-relating to nutrition) Heterotrophs: getting nutrition from complex organic substances (hetero-different) Herbivores: plant eaters (herb-plant.vores- comes from the Latin vorare (to devour) Carnivores: meat eaters (carn-meat) Omnivores: plant and animal eaters (omni-all) latin term Parasites: heterotrophs that feed on living organisms, harming them (para-beside or around) Saprotrophs: feed on dead materials (sapro-dead or decaying matter) Chemosynthesis: bacteria that make organic food using energy from chemical reaction (chemochemical) Living things produce energy: What do we need energy for? o To move, grow, replace worn-out structures, etc. o How do living things obtain energy? Respiration: We get our energy by burning food: broken down into carbon dioxide and water o Respiration requires oxygen, called breathing

o Gas exchange taking in oxygen into the body and releasing carbon dioxide o Diffusion: when oxygen seeps through the surface of the body or through small holes o Diffusion is a slow process but good for small or inactive organisms including plants o What does the Blood system do?: Carries blood and dissolved food substances through the body Living things get rid of poisonous waste o Metabolism: when substances are broken down to produce energy or built up to make structures (bones, muscles) o Excertion: when the body rids itself of the by-products that has been broken down through metabolism o Ammonia: one of the most poisonous waste substances produced by by-product o Urine liquid waste produced from ammonia in the body Living things produce offspring o Reproduction: when organisms produce offspring o Sexual reproduction: reproduction involving male and female o Gametes: male produced sperm, female produced egg o Fertilization: process of when the egg meets the sperm o Embryo: fertilized egg o Asexual reproduction: when organisms reproduce without the help of another individual, the organism would split into two. o Life cycle: time from when an organism reproduces and its offspring reproduces o Larva: free-living young sage in life cycle (example: tadpole of frogs and toads) Living things are made of cells o Cells: the basic unit of a living thing o Cell membrane: the surrounding of a cell o Cytoplasm: the inside material of a cell o Nucleus: a ball shaped material usually in the center of a cell o Chloroplasts: little green bodies in plants which have chlorophyll in them Animals and plants compared Typical animal Typical plant o Feeds on ready-made organic food o Makes its own organic food by (heterotrophic feeding) photosynthesis (autotrophic feeding) o Has feeding structures such as mouth and o Lacks feeding structures gut o Lacks chlorophyll o Has chlorophyll o Lacks leaves o Has leaves o Lacks roots o Has roots o Moves around o Does not move around o Has nerves and muscles o Lacks nerves and muscles o Has receptors such as eyes and ears o Lacks receptors