Characteristics of Living Things

1. Characteristics of Living Things

2. MRS FERG • Movement • Respiration • Sensitivity • Feeding • Excretion • Reproduction • Growth

3. Plant Kingdom

4. Animal Kingdom

5. Movementthe ability of an organism to change position • Some organisms can move the entire body e.g. single-celled organisms like Amoeba • Some organisms can move part of the body e.g. plants • Some organisms can move boththeir entire body, and each section of the body eg insects, amphibians, reptiles, mammals • Most organisms move towards things they need and away from things that harm them

6. carbon dioxide glucose water energy oxygen Respirationis the release of energy from food • Glucose in the food is broken down inside cells, and energy is released • Most organisms use oxygen for this process – so it is called aerobic respiration cell

7. Sensitivity/Responseis the ability of an organism to gather information and respond to it • Some of the things that cause living organisms to respond are light, sound, touch, chemicals, gravity…e.g. roots grow downwards in response to gravity, shoots grow towards light • Both plants and animals use their sense of touch when climbing • Predatorsuse sound and smell to hunt for prey

8. Feeding/Nutritionmeans obtaining food • All living organisms need food as a source of energy • Plants can make their own food using energy from the sun (photosynthesis) • Animals need to find an external source of food

9. Excretionis the removal of toxic chemical substances made in the body • toxic substances are poisonous and may harm cells if not removed • examples of toxic substances are carbon dioxide and urea NH3

10. Scientists have a name for the “children” of all living organisms – they say OFFSPRING Reproductionmeans producing more organisms of the species • Some organisms reproduce from one parent only – this is called ASEXUAL reproduction • Other organisms reproduce by combining one cell from a male with one cell from a female – this is called SEXUAL reproduction

11. Growththe development of an organism into an adult • For micro-organisms, this means their cell grows to full size before reproducing • For multi-celled organisms, this means that cells divide, organs grow in size, and systems develop maturity