Characteristics of living organisms

Characteristics of living organisms

1. Respiration

   • The chemical reactions that break down nutrient molecules in living cells to release energy

2. Irritablility

   • (or sensitivity) the ability to deteckt changes in the environment (i.e) stimuli) and to respond to them. Often involving movement - an action causing change of position in organism

3. Nutrition

   • The taking in of nutrients (food) which are organic molecules and mineral ions providing raw materials or energy for growth, tissue repair and reproduction.

4. Growth (and development)

   • The process by which an organism changes in size and in for. For example, as a young animal increases in size (as it grows), the relative sizes of its body parts change (it develops). Growth is a permanent increase in size and dry mass, and results from an increase in cell number or cell size or both

5. Excreation

6. Reproduction

   • The process that make more of the same kind of organism - new individuals. An organism may simply split into two, or reproduction may be a more complex process involving fertilisation. Reproduction makes new organisms of the same species as the parents. This depends on a set of chemical plants ( the genetic information) contained within each living organism.