6 Characteristics of Living Things

1. Living Things Have 1 or More Cells. Every organism is made up of one or more cells one-celled organisms are called _____________ Examples are: _______________________ organisms with more than 1 cell are called _______________. Examples are: _______________________________. unicellular bacteria, yeast, amoeba multicellular humans, plants, mushrooms

What's a Cell? A membrane-covered structure that separates an organism from its environment. Cells have everything necessary for_____. Cells are generally too _______ to be seen by the naked eye. life small

2. Living Things Respond to Stimuli A stimulus is a change in an organism’s environment that affects the activity of the organism. All organisms sense stimuli in their environment and respond. Examples: ___________________________________________ What do you do when the fire alarm sounds? The bell is a _________ and leaving the building is the__________. light, odors, sounds, weather stimulus response

Organisms also respond to changes in their internal environment Organisms also respond to changes in their internal environment. Maintaining a stable internal environment is called ____________. It is necessary because most chemical reactions in the body require balanced environments. Example: Your body maintains a temperature of about 37°C (98.6°F). When you’re hot you sweat; when you’re cold you shiver; this is your body trying to return things to normal. homeostasis

3. Living Things Reproduce Asexual Reproduction – one parent; offspring are identical to the parent Sexual Reproduction – two parents; offspring have characteristics of both parents

4. Living Things Have DNA DNA stands for Deoxyribonucleic acid DNA encodes _______ that are the blueprint for life. genes

5. Living Things Use Energy Energy is required to carry out all day-to-day activities. Examples of activities that require energy: _____________________________________ walking, thinking, digesting food

6. Living Things Grow and Develop All organisms grow during periods of their lives. They develop or change in form as they grow.

Necessities of Life

1. Food All living things need food because it gives them _______to carry out day-to-day activities. ___________ – make their own food. ___________ – eat other organisms to get food. ___________ – break down nutrients in dead organisms or animal waste. energy producers consumers decomposers

2. Water Probably the single most important compound on Earth. ~_____ of the content of cells is water Used in all chemical reactions in the cell 70 %

3. Air oxygen _________ – needed by most animals and plants; used in the chemical process called cellular respiration that releases energy from food. _______________– needed by plants, algae and some bacteria; used to convert the energy of sunlight into food in a process called __________________. carbon dioxide photosynthesis

4. A Place to Live All living things must have somewhere to live that contains: ____________________ Space is limited Organisms often compete with each other for food, water and other necessities. Even plants compete with each other for living space and access to water and sunlight. Food, water and air

The Chemistry of Life There are four major building blocks or molecules required for life.

Proteins ____________ After water, proteins are the most abundant material in the cell. Have many different functions such as providing structure, helping carry out chemical reactions and transport of materials around the cell  

Examples of proteins in the body: __________________________________ Muscle, skin, hair, fingernails Sources of protein: _________________________________ Meat, fish, eggs, milk products

carbohydrates 2) ____________ Major source of energy for the body Made up of sugars

Examples of carbohydrates: ________________________________   Sources of carbohydrates: Sucrose, fructose, starch, glycogen Bread, cereal, pasta, rice, potatoes

lipids 3) ____________ Some are an important part of the cell membrane – a structure that surrounds and protects the cell Others are used for energy storage

Types of lipids: _________________________________   Sources of lipids: fats and oils meat, vegetable oils, nuts, whole milk, butter

Nucleic acids 4) ____________ Made up of subunits called nucleotides Sometimes called the blueprints of life because _______ is a nucleic acid DNA