Life Functions

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Life Functions
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We consider something to be living if it
exhibits these8 life functions
Respiration Growth Regulation (Response) Reproduct
ion
Nutrition Synthesis Transport Excretion
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Nutrition

• Ingestion - the taking in of nutrients
• ex Humans ingest food into their mouths
• Digestion - the breaking down of food into
  usable nutrients
• ex Chewing a bagel
• Egestion - Elimination of undigested food from
  the body
• ex Defecation

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Synthesis

• Combining simple molecules to form larger, more
  complex molecules.
• Ex. Photosynthesis - CO2 and H2O combined in the
  presence of chlorophyll and sunlight make glucose
  and O2 in plants
• A music synthesizer makes music.

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Transport

• Movement of materials into, out of, and around
  the cell(s) of an organism.
• ex -Blood circulation in humans
• -Movement of H2O up from roots

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Regulation (response to stimuli)

• Reaction of an organism to its surroundings
• ex. -Blink of your eye
• -Plant moving toward the sun (phototropism)
• -Roots moving toward the earth (geotropism)

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Excretion

• Removal of waste products of metabolism -
  products resulting from the cell processes
• ex -Lungs remove CO2 and H2O from
• the blood
• -Kidneys remove water and urea
• -Skin removes excess water and salt

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Respiration

• Release of energy by combining sugar (food) with
  oxygen.This occurs in the individual cells.
• ex We take in food and O2
• in order to have energy
• for our daily lives.

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Reproduction

• The process of making a new organism from an
  already existing one.

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Growth Development

• Increase in size and complexity of an organism.
• ex Children grow
• taller and larger.

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Metabolism

• Sum total of all of the processes that occur
  within the cell
• (READY?)

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WHEW!!