Aim#3: What are the
characteristics of life?
Textbook 1.3-Studying Life (p.17-23)
9/11/13
*Essential Question: Identify the
characteristics of life.
HW#3_______Read p.22-23-Fields of Biology: Read about a few fields in biology and
write a short summary of the one that interested you the most.
Explain why this field appealed to you.
HW#4 ________ Research 7 facts about pill bugs (isopods, pill bugs, sow bugs,
rollie pollies)
Over the weekend- Collect pill bugs. Try to collect 10 of them. Place them in a small
margarine or chinese food container with some tiny holes, place a moist towel in the
container and a slice of potato and a tiny bit of soil. Label the container with your name
and the period that your class meets for biology. Bring these in on Monday (if you do not
have pill bugs on Monday, you will not be able to complete the pill bug lab).
What you will need to do:
1. Clean out a margarine/Chinese food container
2. Poke a few holes into the cover of container
3. Crumple and moisten a paper towel and place in the
container
4. Slice a piece of potato or apple and put into container
5. Carefully find pill bugs, place into container and cover
6. Wash your hands and bring in to class on Monday to
start Lab!
Isopods:
Breath with gills
Restricted to areas with high
humidity (moist)
omnivores/scavengers
harmless
live 2 to 3 years
seven pairs of legs
like rotting vegetation
4000 species
molt external skeleton
fertilized eggs hatch from ventral pouch
remove toxic metals from the soil!
Three Main Body Parts:
Head
Thorax
Abdomen
Color: dark gray to white
Pill Bugs
Sow Bugs
We now know that Life CAN NOT be defined !!!
However… we CAN explain LIFE by describing
characteristics of living things
2)What is BIOLOGY?
The Study of life!!
2. What
is
Biology?
a. Origins and history of life
b. Structures of living things
c. Interactions of living things
d. Function of living things
3. What do
biologists
do?
a. Study the diversity of
life
*What type of life
forms do we study?
b. Research diseases
*What diseases
are in the news?
c. Develop technologies
*How do we improve
technology?
d. Improve agriculture
*How can we improve
agriculture?
e. Preserve the
environment
*How do we preserve nature?
4. Characteristics
of Life:
LIVING THINGS…
a. Are made up of one or more cells
i. Unicellular vs. Multicellular
a. Display organization
i. For example:
- Organelles in a Paramecium
- Specialized cells in multicellular
organisms (ex. blood cells)
4. Characteristics
of Life:
c.
Grow and Develop
i. Growthii. Development-
d. Reproduce
i. Neutered dogs and cats?
ii. Species-
4. Characteristics
of Life:
e. Respond to stimuli
i. Stimulusii. Responseiii. Examples?
f.
Require energy
i. Metabolism:
i.
Autotroph vs. Hetertroph:
4. Characteristics
of Life:
g. Maintain Homeostasis
i. Homeostasisii. For example: Changes in
altitude
g. Have adaptations that can
evolve over time (evolution)
i. Adaptation:
i.
Why are adaptations
important?
M
R
S
T
R
A
N
G
E
R
metabolism
regulation
synthesis
transport
respiration
assimilation
nutrition
growth
excretion
reproduction
M metabolism
R
S
T
R
A
N
G
E
R
METABOLISM
- the total of ALL the life activities
required to sustain life.
- it is ALL THE LIFE
PROCESSES TOGETHER.
**includes activities that build
substances as well as those that
break down substances.
M
R regulation
S
T
R
A
N
G
E
R
REGULATION
- the CONTROL and COORDINATION
of various activities of an organism.
- it involves responding to stimuli.
KEY WORDS:
control
coordinate
regulate
response
stimulus
detect
M
R
S synthesis
T
R
A
N
G
E
R
SYNTHESIS
- chemical activities by which an
organism builds large, more complex
molecules from smaller, less complex
molecules.
Key Words:
Form
Build
Make
Create
Synthesize Produce
M
R
S
T transport
R
A
N
G
E
R
TRANSPORT
- the ABSORPTION of materials into the
organism AND CIRCULATION of
materials throughout the organism.
Key words:
Circulate Absorb
Distribute Movement
Take in
M
R
S
T
R respiration
A
N
G
E
R
RESPIRATION
- Breaking down food to generate
ENERGY
KEY WORDS:
**MAKING ENERGY**
M
R
S
T
R
A assimilation
N
G
E
R
ASSIMILATION
- When an organism incorporates new
material into the body or cell
M
R
S
T
R
A
N nutrition
G
E
R
Nutrition
- activity by which an organism obtains
materials and energy from its
environment and processes them for its
own use.
Includes 3 processes:
A. INGESTION = taking in food.
B. DIGESTION =
breaking down
food.
C. EGESTION =
removal of
undigested or
undigestible food.
There are 2 TYPES OF NUTRITION:
a) AUTOTROPHIC NUTRITION =
- organism can MAKE ORGANIC
COMPOUNDS FROM
INORGANIC RAW MATERIALS
- or - organism can MAKE ITS OWN
FOOD
ex: plants, some bacteria
b) HETEROTROPHIC
NUTRITION =
- organism must OBTAIN FOOD
from environment (can’t make its
own)
or
- Organism MUST OBTAIN PREFORMED ORGANIC
COMPOUNDS (FOOD) FROM
THEIR ENVIRONMENT
ex: animals, fungi, bacteria
M
R
S
T
R
A
N
G growth
E
R
GROWTH/DEVELOPMENT
- increase cell size and/or the
number of cells in an organism.
M
R
S
T
R
A
N
G
E excretion
R
EXCRETION
- removal of the waste products
PRODUCED BY THE
ORGANISM! (metabolic wastes)
**Not the same as egestion!!!
M
R
S
T
R
A
N
G
E
R reproduction
REPRODUCTION
- production of new individuals.
**this life process is not needed for
survival of the individual, but it is
needed for the survival of a
species.
LIFE PROCESSES/ACTIVITIES
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
M
R
S
T
R
A
N
G
E
R
metabolism
regulation
synthesis
transport
respiration
assimilation
nutrition
growth
excretion
reproduction
What is HOMEOSTASIS?
- the MAINTENANCE OF A STABLE
INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT….
EVEN WHEN the external
environment changes!
- Homeostasis depends on all the life
functions working together in
coordination to keep the organism
stable.