Living Things Notes:

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Living Things Notes

• What are the characteristics that all living
  things share?
• How are all living organisms classified?
• NC Standards 8.L.4.1

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What do all of these things have in common?
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What are the main characteristics of ALL living
things?

1. They obtain and use resources for energy.
2. They respond to stimuli.
3. They reproduce.
4. They grow and develop.
5. They have cells and are organized.

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They obtain and use resources for energy

• All organisms must obtain (get) resources, which
  provide energy to perform the basic functions of
  life
• In other wordswe need to get food and water in
  order to grow and develop!

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Got Energy?
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1 continued

• Plants provide their own food for energy through
  photosynthesis.
• Most other organisms must find an external source
  for food.
• Very few organisms that are not plants may use
  photosynthesis.

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2. Organisms respond to stimuli

• A Stimulus is any change in an organisms
  surroundings that will cause the organism to
  react.
• Examples of environmental stimulus
• Changes in
• amount of light
• Temperature
• Sound
• Amount of water
• Space
• Types of food present

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For Example

• Stimulus
  Response

Your Sister smells the cookies and comes running!
You bake cookies
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2 continued

• The reaction to a stimulus is called a response.
• This can be an action or behavior performed by
  the organism.
• Non-living things do not respond to environmental
  changes this way.

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Another Example

• Stimulus
• Plant feels bug

• Response
• Plant traps bug

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3. They reproduce.

• Organisms have the ability to reproduce or
  produce offspring that have similar
  characteristics as the parents.
• Two ways to reproduce
• Sexual
• Asexual

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Types of Reproduction

• Asexual Reproduction

• Sexual Reproduction

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3 continued Two basic types of reproduction

• Sexual involves 2 parents,
• female-egg, male-sperm, egg and sperm combine to
  make an offspring that is different from both
  parents.
• Asexual a reproductive process that involves
  only one parent that produces offspring that are
  identical to the parent.

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4. They grow and develop.

• All organisms require energy to grow and
  develop!!
• Growth is the process by which an organism
  becomes larger or gains more cells.
• Development is the process that occurs in the
  life of the organism that results in the organism
  becoming more complex structurally.

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Growth and development
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5. They are organized.

• All organisms are made of cells.
• The cell is the smallest unit of an organism that
  carries on the functions of life.
• Some organisms are composed of just one cell,
  while others are composed of many of the same
  cell or many different types of cells.

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All living things have cells

• Cell without a Nucleus

• Cell with a nucleus

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How are all living organisms classified?

• Classification or taxonomy ? a system of
  categorizing organisms based on shared observable
  characteristics.
• You use a dichotomous key! (you can use a
  dichotomous key to categorizing living AND
  non-living things!)