Characteristics of Life

CHARACTERISTICS of Life Cellular Organization All living things are made up of cells Basic units of all living things Cells are the smallest unit capable of all life functions Life does not exist smaller than a cell 2

CHARACTERISTICS of Life Homeostasis Regulates its internal environment and tends to maintain a stable, constant condition in spite of the external environment Ability to remain constant 3

CHARACTERISTICS of Life Metabolism Set of all chemical reactions that occur in living organisms in order to maintain life What is metabolism? 4

CHARACTERISTICS of Life Responsiveness System of reacting to stimuli in the environment Ability to respond 5

CHARACTERISTICS of Life Reproduction Biological process by which new individual organisms are produced Ability to reproduce Sexual or asexual Live births, eggs, budding, spores 6

CHARACTERISTICS of Life Heredity Process by which an offspring (cell or organism) acquires or becomes predisposed to the characteristics of its parent cell or organism Why we look like our parents Directional change in the genetic material of a population of organisms over time Evolution: inherited characteristics that change over generations Evolution… 7

CHARACTERISTICS of Life Growth Increase in some quantity over time Increase in: height, weight, mass, circumference, number of branches or leaves or blossoms 8