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Section 2: Characteristics of Living Things

Unit 1: The Characteristics of Life

Chapter 1.3

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Sewer Lice

  • Endemic to South Hills.
  • Live on toxic sewage.
  • Convert it to cleaner water.
  • Clean water shortage solution?

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Objective

  • Describe common characteristics of life.

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Warm-up:

  • List three characteristics that all living things have in common.

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Biology

  • Biology: the study of life
  • All things are either living or nonliving
    • Biotic: describes a living or once‐living organism in an ecosystem
    • Abiotic: describes a nonliving factor in an ecosystem

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Demo 1

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Demo 2

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Biotic, or Abiotic?

Click on this screenshot to take you to an interactive cardsort.

Note: This requires Flash, which doesn’t work on all devices.

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Biotic, or Abiotic?

Answers

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Living Things:

  • Are highly organized compared to non-living objects.

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Living Things:

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Living Things:

  • Atom: the smallest unit of an element that retains the chemical and physical properties of that element
  • Molecule: composed of two or more atoms held together by chemical forces

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Living Things:

  • Organelle: a subunit within a cell that has a specialized function
  • Cell: the basic unit of structure and function for all organisms
  • Tissue: composed of cells organized to perform a similar function

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Living Things:

  • Organ: composed of tissues serving a common function
  • Organ System: a group of organs that work together to perform a specific function or task
  • Organism: A form of life; an animal, plant, fungus, protist, or bacterium

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Living Things:

  • Organisms belong to one of six kingdoms:
    • Eubacteria
    • Archaebacteria
    • Protista
    • Fungi
    • Plants
    • Animals

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Living Things:

  • Population: a group of individuals of the same species living in a specific geographical area and reproducing
  • Community: different populations of organisms interacting in a shared environment

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Living Things:

  • Ecosystem: a system composed of organisms and nonliving components of an environment
  • Biome: A large area or geographical region with distinct plant and animal groups adapted to that environment.
  • Biosphere: the zone of life on Earth; sum total of all ecosystems on Earth

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Check for Understanding:

  • List the following in order from smallest to largest:
    • 1. molecule
    • 2. cell
    • 3. organelle
    • 4. organ
    • 5. atom
    • 6. tissue

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YOU are an ecosystem!

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Living Things:

  • Are made of one or more cells
    • All cells have 4 common components: genetic material (DNA), cytoplasm, ribosomes, and a plasma membrane.

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Activity

Click on the screen shot to explore the Learn Genetics Utah interactive on Cells and Characteristics of Life. Explore each of the 3 cell types AND read the content.

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Living Things:

    • Prokaryotes:
      • Very small (about 0.5-10µm)
      • Unicellular: made of a single cell
      • No nucleus; DNA in middle of cell
      • Archaebacteria and eubacteria

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Living Things:

    • Eukaryotes:
      • Much larger cells (10-100µm)
      • Some are unicellular (most protists)
      • Some are multicellular (some protists, plants, fungi, animals)
        • Multicellular: made up of more than one cell
      • DNA in nucleus
      • Has specialized organelles

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Check for Understanding:

  • What is one difference and one similarity between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells?

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Living Things:

  • Can take in and use energy
    • Metabolism: combination of all chemical reactions in a cell (or organism)
      • Cells use energy to build complex substances like sugars and fats
      • Cells gain energy by breaking complex molecules into simpler ones, like CO2 and H2O

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Living Things:

    • Autotroph: any organism that makes its own food.
      • Examples: plants, algae, some bacteria
    • Heterotroph: any organism that cannot make its own food, but must get food elsewhere
      • Examples: animals, fungi

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Living Things:

  • Can maintain a relatively constant internal environment
    • Homeostasis: the regulatory process in which an organism regulates its internal environment. 

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Living Things:

  • Can respond to their environment

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Living Things:

  • Can reproduce
    • Asexual Reproduction:
      • Parent produces a genetic clone
      • Examples: bacteria, sponges, spider plants

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Living Things:

    • Sexual Reproduction:
      • Usually two parents, but not always
      • Joining of DNA from sperm and egg

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One or two parents!?

    • Flower

    • C. elegans worm

produce eggs

produce sperm

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Living Things:

  • Have genetic material that allows them to function, grow, and develop
    • Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA): a molecule that encodes the genetic information for living organisms

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Living Things:

    • DNA is inherited and allows for growth and development

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Living Things:

  • Evolved from other living things
    • Evolution: A process in which new species develop from preexisting species
    • Occurs over many generations

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Check-in:

    • Worm
    • Heat
    • Egg
    • Sun

  • Which of the following are abiotic factors:
  • Log
  • Sugar
  • Water
  • Tree