Unity in Diversity: All forms of life have common features

A. All life shares common properties, which distinguishes living (biotic) from non-living (abiotic).

1. ORDER -all organisms are made of one or more cells, which are highly ordered.

a. ALL cells share similar molecules (ex. DNA)

b. ALL organisms code genetic information the same way using DNA

c. information stored in DNA is used to build the organism

2. Regulation -The environment outside an organism may change, but the internal environment of the organism is maintained.

a. Homeostasis - The maintenance of our internal environment

3. Growth and Development

4. Energy Utilization

-Organisms must take in energy and transform it to perform life’s activities via chemical reactions.

a. Metabolism - combination of all the chemical reactions in an organism

5. Response to the Environment

6. Reproduction

7. Evolution

-capacity of a species to change over time. It’s the central unifying feature of life from its inception almost 4 billion years ago.