CHARACTERISTICS OF LIVING THINGS

LIVING THINGS…ARE MADE OF CELLS

¡ Cell: the basic structural and functional unit of life. They have structures that enable them to carry out
life processes.
¡ Life processes include:
¡ Chemical reactions to help obtain and use energy
¡ Break down nutrients
¡ Build molecules
¡ Grow
¡ Copy genetic material
¡ Repair injuries
¡ Excretes wastes
LIVING THINGS…TAKE IN NUTRIENTS

¡ Nutrients are substances that living things need but cannot make for
themselves.
¡ Usually obtained from food

¡ Consumers eat other organisms for food (ex. Humans)

¡ Producers produce their own food (ex. Plants)
LIVING THINGS… USE ENERGY

¡ Energy is used to carry out life processes, it comes from the food consumed or
produced
¡ Cellular respiration is the process where energy is released from food
¡ Energy is used for many purposes (ex. Growing, response to changes, movement,
sleep)
LIVING THINGS…PRODUCE WASTE THAT MUST BE REMOVED

¡ All cells have structures that store and remove waste

¡ Waste are substances that are harmful if they are not removed
UNICELLULAR VS MULTICELLULAR

¡ Unicellular organisms are ONE cell organisms

(ex. Bacteria and some protists)
¡ Waste is removed through the outer membrane or
from a structure called a vesicle
¡ Multicellular organisms are made up of many cells
¡ Waste is removed from structures or systems of the
organism
LIVING THINGS…RESPOND TO STIMULI

¡ A stimulus is anything that causes a living thing to react in a certain way

¡ Living things respond to internal stimuli- things that occur inside their
bodies (ex. Stomach growling, feeling thirsty)
¡ They also respond to external stimuli from their surroundings (ex. Dog
ears flick up to noise at the door)
LIVING THINGS…GROW

¡ All living things grow by increasing in size, or in the number or cells, or

BOTH
LIVING THINGS…REPRODUCE

¡ Organisms reproduce in different ways:

¡ Unicellular bacteria divide to produce two identical cells. They have the same
genetic material.
¡ Other organisms must have a mate to reproduce. The offspring differ from
parents.
UNICELLULAR VS MULTICELLULAR…AGAIN

¡ Unicellular organisms
¡ Have structures to sense and respond to changes in their environment
¡ Grow by increasing in size

¡ Multicellular organisms
¡ Multicellular animals have sense organs and/or a nervous system to respond to stimuli
¡ Grow by increasing number of cells
ASSIGNMENT!
YAYYYY!!!!
T CHART– UNICELLULAR
VS MULTICELLULAR
ORGANISMS

¡ Create a T-chart to compare

and contrast the characteristics
between unicellular and
multicellular organisms.
¡ On page 1 of your notebook.