CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE

• All organisms, no matter how different from each other, share certain features that are specific only to living things (you saw this with the lab we did!)

9 Characteristics of Life• Energy • Development• Growth• Adapt• Reproduction• Cells• Homeostasis• React/respond to environment• Organization

“EDGAR CHRO”

ENERGY

• Organisms need energy and they get it in different ways:– Heterotroph: get food

by eating others– Autotroph: make their

own food

• The sun is the ultimate source of energy:– Why?

DEVELOP

• Process by which an organisms changes into an adult.

• Be careful. Not the same as evolve.

GROW

• Multicellular organisms grow or get bigger as a result of cell division (more cells to the body)

• A unicellular organism gets bigger but if it undergoes cell division, it becomes two organisms (reproduction)

ADAPT

• Organisms gain traits or behaviors through mutations that help them survive better in an environment. Not all mutations result in adaptations! Most are harmful and depend on the environment (natural selection)

REPRODUCTION

• Reproduction= Process of organisms making new organisms like themselves– HOW? Organisms

transmit hereditary information (DNA) to their offspring

• Important for survival of species, not individual

• Two types, but sexual reproduction creates variety which is important for evolution

CELLS:

• All Organisms contain at least one (unicellular) or more (multicellular) cells.

• In multicellular organisms, the cells do different tasks to help the organism survive

• Each cell can live on its own because a cell can perform the 9 characteristics of life!!!!!!!

• We have 100,000,000,000,000 cells

Homeostasis• All organisms have the ability to maintain their conditions stable: • Things that need to be maintained stable: temperature, blood

pressure, water, mineral concentration, pH levels, etc• Example #1: Body temperature control

When body temperature is below 98.6 then body shivers to increase temperature back to 98.6.

When body temperature is too high, humans sweat to decrease body temperature

The human body maintains a stable internal temperature of 98.6°F.

RESPOND

• Organisms respond to their environment for protection

Organization• At molecular, cellular levels and at organism

level