CHARACTERISTICS OF LIVING THINGS

THE SEVEN LIFE-PROCESSES

•Living things have certain life processes in common. There are seven things that they need to do to count as being alive. The phrase MRS GREN is a way to remember them:

MRS. GREN

MRS. GREN

• M Movement All living things move (change position), even plants

• R Respiration Getting energy from food (they need oxygen to do that)

• S Sensitivity Detecting changes in the surroundings and react to them

• G Growth All living things become bigger as they get older

• R Reproduction Making more living things of the same type

• E Excretion Getting rid of waste (CO2, sweat, urine)

• N Nutrition Taking in and using food

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/science/organisms_behaviour_health/life_processes/activity/

Nutrition, Respiration & Extretion

• Nutrition means getting food: organisms need food (carboncompounds) to mantain their structures and obtain energy.

• Respiration is a chemical reaction through which organisms getenergy from food. It is not breathing!!!

• Excretion means getting rid of waste products that can harm thebody.

Cell respiration

Autotrophic and heterotrophic nutrition• Autotrophic nutrition: characteristic of

plants, algae and some bacteria. They make

their own food (carbon compounds) through

a chemical processes called photosynthesis.

Autotrophic and heterotrophic nutrition•Heterotrophic nutrition: characteristic of animals, fungi,

protozoa and some bacteria. These organisms are not able to make

food on their own, so they get their food from other living things.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/scienc

e/organisms_behaviour_health/food_chai

ns/activity/

Excretion• Animals excrete waste by breathing out CO2, by

urinating or by sweating.

• Plants excrete O2, CO2 and water through tiny pores in their leaves called stomas.

Growth and reproduction

• Growth means getting

bigger. Organisms such as

animals and plants grow and

develop into mature adults,

being able to reproduce.

• The process of growing from

birth, to maturity, to death is

called a lifecycle.

Reproduction• Organisms produce new individuals, more or less exact replicas of

themselves, necessary for their perpetuation from one generation to the next.• Ways of reproduction:• Giving birth young individuals.

• Laying eggs which hatch and develop into new individuals.

• Producing seeds.

• Making spores.

Sexual ReproductionRequires Two Sex Cells

• Egg and Sperm

• Egg and sperm combine to form new organism

• New organism is genetically different from the parents

http://www.cartoonstock.com/lowres/mpe0048l.

jpg

Asexual Reproduction• Involves only one parent producing identical offspring with the exact same genetic material.

Amoeba: the parent divides into two new identical cells

Starfish: throughregeneration

Hydra: throughbudding

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXaswpUjK-M

Sensitivity and movement

•Sensitivity means detecting changes inside the body or in the surroundings and react to them, enhancing survival.• Animals through the sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, mouth and

skin).

• Others through whiskers, antennae, etc.

• Plants: sensitive to gravity, light or to touch.• Mimosa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLTcVNyOhUc

• Carnivorous plants: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnY_cCRELvs