Characteristics of Life Vocab/Notes

Characteristics of Life

Success Criteria:

• List the characteristics of all living things
• Define key characteristics of life vocab. Words
• Provide a written example of each characteristic
• Look at an illustration/picture and identify the characteristic of life

What are the characteristics of life? – all living things

•  Are organized and made of cells
•  Contain DNA
•  Use energy
•  Maintain homeostasis
•  Reproduce
•  Grow and develop
•  Respond to a stimulus
•  Adapt and evolve

\
Unicellular –  unicellular organisms are composed of one cell

Multicellular –  organisms that are made up of more than one cell

Prokaryote –  cell without a nucleus or membrane-bound organelle

Cellular organization –  cells >  tissues >  organs  >  organ system

\
DNA –  the genetic material inside the nucleus of a cell ( a cell without a nucleus can still have DNA but obviously it's not in the nucleus)

\
 Energy –  the ability to cause change

 Metabolism –  is the sum of all chemical reactions that take place in the body to convert food

 Autotroph – organisms that produce their own energy molecules(carbohydrates)

 Heterotroph – organisms that require energy from other organisms (eats other organisms)

\
Homeostasis –

• The ability to maintain stable internal conditions

• Temperature, PH, etc.

• Maintained by feedback loops

\
Sexual reproduction – DNA from 2 different parents

Asexual reproduction – Single parent (cloning, budding, regeneration)

Species – a group of organisms that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring in nature

\
Growth – getting larger; results in an increase in the amount of living material and the formation of new structures

Development – changing shape and structure; All of the changes that take place during the life of an organism

\
Environment – the air, water, weather, temperature, other organisms nearby, etc

Stimulus – anything in an organism’s external or internal environment that causes a reaction

Response – a reaction to a stimulus

\
Adaptation – structure, behavior, or internal process that enables an organism to respond to environmental factors and live to produce offspring is called an adaptation

Evolution – the gradual change in a species through adaptations over time is evolution

\
Extra:

• Ferns(primitive) reproduce asexually with spores

•  How to tell if somethings alive -

• Check for soil/styrofoam

• Touch it (e.x. Check for spores)

• Look at how the leaves are placed(Real plant leaves aren’t going to be be perfect)

• Membrane Bound Organelles

• An organelle in a cell with a membrane

• The parts in a cell are called organelles

• Prokaryotes don’t have a nucleus

• Bacteria is a prokaryote

• Eukaryotes do have a nucleus(We’re eukaryotes)  

• Eukaryotes - plants, animals, fungi, protist

• Mitosis - Asexual reproduction

• ATP(Adenosine Triphosphate) = energy

• Made by cellular respiration in the mitochondria

• Fruit and sugar are carbohydrates

• Fermentation is a faster way to get the cells what they need-

\
\
\