Characteristics of Life Study Guide Origin of Life organisms maggots Spallanzani not spontaneous s-shaped Redi unsealed boiled biogenesis Pasteur The idea that life could come from nonliving matter is called ____________________ generation. In 1688, Francisco ___________ experimented with meat to disprove the idea of spontaneous generation. Redi concluded that decaying meat does not turn into ___________. In 1767 another scientist named Lazzaro _________________ used broth to see if mold and fungus were formed by spontaneous generation. Spallanzani thought _________________ were already in the air and in the broth. He experimented and found that organisms did not grow in broth that had been ___________ and sealed. In 1864, a French scientist named Louis ___________ also believed that germs were present in air and dust. He boiled broth in ___________ flasks. These flasks had ______________ necks that trapped any germs in the air. Pasteur’s experiment showed that organisms did ___________ come from spontaneous generation. The idea that living things can only come from other living things is called _______________________. deadly Miller atmosphere Earth explanation How did life begin on ___________? In 1953, Stanley ___________ believed that elements present in earth’s early ____________________ somehow joined together to form the chemicals found in living things. His experiment combined the ___________ gases, water, and electrical charges to eventually form a goo that contained the basic materials needed for life. This gave scientists one possible ________________ for how life began on Earth. Life Processes energy digestion move oxygen metabolism excretion Movement The ability to ___________ through the environment is an important characteristic of many living things. Living things move when they have ___________. Metabolism Energy is released during chemical activities that go on in the body of a living thing. These energy related activities are called ______________. There are four basic parts of metabolism: ingestion, digestion, respiration, and excretion. Ingestion is the first stage when food is taken into the body. _______________ is the process by which food is broken down into simpler substances. The process by which living things take in ___________ and use it to produce energy is called respiration. The process of getting rid of waste materials is called ___________. size action span average reacts growth stimulus changes maximum energy Growth and Development Metabolism supplies living things with the ____________ they need to grow. ___________ is another characteristic of living things. Growing involves more than increasing in ___________ - it also includes development and complexity. Each type of organism has different life ___________. A life span is the ___________ length of time it can be expected to live. A life expectancy is the _____________ length of time an organism can be expected to live. Response to Stimulus An organism ___________ to changes in its environment. Plants respond to water and light by growing toward them. Animals have the senses of seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching, which enable them to respond to the many ___________ in their environment. A _________________ is any change in the environment of an organism that produces a response. A response is some ___________ or movement of the organism. asexual individual reproduction offspring Reproduction ___________________ is the process by which living things produce more of the same type of living thing that can also reproduce. There are two types of reproduction: sexual involves two parents and ___________ - involves only one parent. Either way, the ___________ gets a set of chemical plans or blueprints that determine the characteristics of that type of living thing. Reproduction is not essential for the life of an ___________ organism but it is essential for the continuation of life from one generation to another. Needs of Living Things transferred autotrophs sun survive chain processes dissolve web heterotrophs interact energy water pyramid Living things need to ___________ with one another and with their environment. However, not all living things interact within their environment in the same manner. In order for a living thing to ___________ it needs energy, food, water, living space, and the ability to maintain fairly constant internal body conditions. Energy All living things need ___________. Organisms use energy to carry out all of the life ___________. The primary source of energy for most living things is the ___________. The energy from the sun is passed on from one living thing to another. This is called a food ___________. Rarely do organisms only eat one type of food in nature. The many energy pathways possible are more accurately shown in a food ___________. Energy is either used by the organism or given off as heat. Only energy stored in the tissues of an organism can be ___________ to the next level. About 10% of the energy can be passed through a food chain. This loss of energy can be shown in a energy ___________ . The base of the pyramid is made up of_________. These are organisms that ___________ their own food. We used to call these organisms producers. The upper layers are made up of ____________. These organisms eat other ___________. We used to call these organisms consumers. You could live for a week or two without food, but you would die in a few days without ___________. Many organisms are made up mostly of water. Most substances ___________ in water. Because of this, important chemicals can be transported easily throughout the body of an organism. defend abiotic homeostasis ecosystem competition die predators limiting Living Space The place where an organism lives is its___________ . An ecosystem is all the biotic and _____________ things in a given area that interact with one another. Ecosystems can not always satisfy all the ___________ of the living things in a habitat. Often there is a limited amount of food and water in an environment. As a result, only a limited number of the same kind of living thing can survive there. That is why many animals ___________ a certain area that they consider to be their living space. This creates ___________. Competition is the struggle among living things to get the proper amount of food, water, and energy. A condition in the environments, called a __________ factor stops a population from increasing in size. Limiting factors include food, living space and weather conditions and sometimes disease. In animal populations, ____________ are a limiting factor as they control the size of the prey’s population. Homeostasis Most organisms can not survive in extreme temperatures because many life processes can not occur at those temperatures. Many organisms would quickly ___________ if it were not for homeostasis. _________________ is the ability of an organism to keep conditions inside its body the same even though conditions in its external environment change.
