Life Sciences 11- The Needs and Characteristics of Living Things

Organism

Any living things

Purpose of water

Helps organisms carry out cellular activity (eg. cell replication or division, and protein synthesis)

Nutrients

They provide organisms with what they need to grow

Autotrophs

AKA Producers, they produce their own food (includes plants and some bacteria)

Heterotrophs

AKA consumers, either carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores

A space to live

Gives organisms a place to get food, water, and a shelter. Organisms often compete for space with other organisms

Air

Plants need carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, plants and animals need it for cellular respiration (some organisms do not need air and can survive in an no-air environment)

Unicellular Organism

Simple, single celled organism (ex. Bacteria)

Multicellular Organism

Complex, made of many cells (ex. Animals and plants)

Homeostasis

Ability to maintain internal conditions in response to environment changes (ex. Sweating to cool off)

Cell’s energy currency

ATP, adenosine triphosphate that powers daily functions and repair and replace damaged cells

Sexual Reproduction

Two parents produce offspring with different genes

Asexual Reproduction

Single parent produces offspring that is identical to the parent, a clone (ex. Sponges)

Traits

Passed through genes found in the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), occurs during sexual or asexual reproduction

Growth

Growing due to cells increasing in number of size

Internal Stimulus

Hunger (stimulus): tells you to eat (response)

Thirst (stimulus): tells you to drink water (response)

External Stimulus

Light (stimulus): tells you to stay awake (response)

Sound (stimulus): tells you to be aware (response)

Natural Selection

The process where traits best suited for the environment will survive to be passed to the offspring

12 needs for organisms

• made of cells

• Cellular respiration

• Reproduces

• Passes on genetic information to offspring

• Needs a space to live

• Needs nutrients

• Consumes and produces energy

• Grows

• Adapts/ evolves

• Responds to environmental changes

Equation for photosynthesis

6 CO 2 + 12 H 2 O + Chlorophyll + Sunlight → C 6 H 12 O 6 + 6 O 2 + 6 H 2 O

Equation for cellular respiration

C₆H₁₂O₆ +6 O₂ ——>6 CO₂+ 6 H₂O