Mr. Mah
Living Environment
Lecture 1
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In your notebooks, answer the following
questions:
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What does the word “life” mean to you?
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What makes something living?
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There is no textbook for this class. All of the
exams are going to be based on what I cover
in lecture.
Make sure you take EXTREMELY GOOD NOTES
during the entire class.
We’ll be using Victory Notes for note taking
Victory Notes
Topic
Questions,
Subtitles,
Headings,
Etc.
2 1/2”
First & Last Name
Class Title
Period
Date
Class Notes
3 to 4 sentence summary across
the bottom of the last page of
the day’s notes
 These
are the most basic events,
or processes, that need to happen
in order for an organism to be
alive.
 Even
the most basic living things,
like bacteria performs all of the
Life Processes.
Virus
Bacteria
Living
Non-living
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Digestion
Circulation
Movement
Excretion
Respiration
Reproduction
Immunity
Coordination
Synthesis
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Breakdown of food to simpler molecules
which can enter the cells
What does it mean? Everything needs to eat!
We all need food to survive, no matter what
kind of living organism we might be.
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the movement of materials
within an organism or its
cells
Food has to get around
to all of the cells in our body.
Ex: Our heart pumps blood throughout our
body. Food is carried by the blood
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(locomotion) change in position by a living
thing
Even plants move! Let’s think about this one.
Plants grow from tiny seeds, but we think
about plants as not moving.
Plants grow upward, down into the soil, and
outwards. Think of trees. They might not be
moving, but their branches change position.
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removal of waste products by an
organism (wastes may include
carbon dioxide, water, and urea in urine and
sweat)
All the waste that an organism creates needs
to go somewhere. Different organisms have
unique ways of getting rid of that waste
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process which converts the energy in food to
ATP (the form of energy which can be used by
the cells)
IMPORTANT: its not respiration like
breathing. They are two very different
things.
This definition of respiration
happens in cells, where they
break down food to make
energy called ATP
(Adenosine Triphosphate)
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It’s a hard topic, and we’ll definitely study it
more in depth later on the in the year. For
now, you just need to recognize that it is one
of the Life Processes.
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the making of more organisms of one's own
kind -- not needed by an individual living
thing but is needed by its species
Asexual
Sexual
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the ability of an organism to resist disease
causing organisms and foreign invaders
This is how we get better whenever we get
sick
Video Clip
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the control of the various activities of an
organism (mostly involves the nervous
system)
Organisms have control over their
movements and actions
This is a Lack of Coordination… (Video Clip)
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the production of more complex substances
by combining two or more simpler
substances
Ex: Plants use water and carbon dioxide to
make sugar (much more complicated)
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Digestion
Circulation
Movement
Excretion
Respiration
Reproduction
Immunity
Coordination
Synthesis
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Non-living things are incapable of carrying
out at least one or more of the life processes.
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Eagle
Airplane
Bacteria
Worms
Apples
Apple Tree
Lady Bug
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Shark
Soil
Baseball
Pigeon
iPod
Tiger
Ice
On a sheet of loose-leaf lined paper, write the following:
For each living organism, write down how they show all of the
Living Processes
For each non-living organism, write down the
Living Processes that they are missing