Vital functions

All living beings perform three vital functions:

Nutrition

Interaction

Reproduction

Vital functions

Nutrition:

It is a combination of processes by which living beings exchange matter and anergy with their environment.

There are two types of nutrition: Autotrophic: living beings which make their own

organic matter from inorganic matter using a source of energy.

Heterotrophic: living beings which feed on organic matter produced by other living being.

Vital functions

Interaction:

All living beings interact with their environment and with other living beings to survive. Interaction enables living beings to receive and respond to a stimulus.

Vital functions

Reproduction:

It is the biological process by which new individual organisms are produced.

There are two types of reproduction: Asexual: it requires only one parent which produces

new, genetically identical living beings. Sexual: it requires two parents: a male and a

female, which provide a gamete or sexual cell. These two cells join to form a new living being, different both individuals.