Characteristics of Living Things

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Characteristics of Living Things

• September 2006

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What is biology

• The study of life

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Themes that unify Biology

• Cell structure and function
• Reproduction
• Metabolism
• Homeostasis
• Heredity
• Evolution
• Interdependence (ecology)

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To Do

• In your groups create a list of characteristics
  and needs that you feel that all living things
  have in common.

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Properties of Life

• Cells
• Organization
• Metabolism
• Homeostasis
• Heredity
• Responsiveness
• Growth

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Living Things

• Features of living things
• Organization- organisms are organized to perform
  life functions.
• What life functions does a dog carry out?

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Life function

• A dog grows, develops over time, is organized
  (cells), and adjusts to its surroundings.
• Like all other organisms.

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Organization

• Cells are the smallest units of organisms that
  carry on the functions of life.
• Whether an organism is made up of one or many
  cells, it is organized to perform particular
  functions to carry out life.

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Organization

• Subatomic particles-gt atoms-gt molecules-gt
• Organic molecules-gt cells-gt tissues-gt organs

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Reproduction

• Organisms produce new individuals that are
  usually like the parent organisms.

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Adjusting to Surroundings

• Organisms respond to their surroundings,and that
  is a stimulus.
• Example A dog wagging its tail when you come
  home.
• Any characteristic an organism has that makes it
  better able to survive in its surroundings is an
  adaptation.
• Homeostasis is the regulation of an organisms
  internal environment to maintain conditions.

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Growth and Development

• When you were born you were small. With proper
  care and feeding you grew
• You could not see far or walk as a baby but as
  you developed, or got older, you could see
  further and walk more.

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Basic needs of living things

• All organisms need energy and raw materials to
  grow develop and survive.
• The main energy source is the sun.
• Nonliving things that organisms need to survive
  are..

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The answer

• WATER
• OXYGEN
• MINERALS

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DO NOW 9/21

• Mudbug or Fluss-Kreb-It Tastes The Same
• Some people call them crawdads. Others call them
  crayfish or crevlike or ecrevisee. Others say
  Fluss-Kreb or camerones-or even mudbugs.
• As you can tell, people all over the world have
  found a name for-and a way to eat- these little
  freshwater creature.
• If you had to live by catching coastal creatures,
  what would you eat? Make a list of what youd
  eat-and what youd need to catch and cook it.

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Where does life come from?

• September 21,2006

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Where does life come from?

• For much of history, people believed that living
  things came from nonliving matter an idea called
  the theory of spontaneous generation.
• What do you think about that statement?

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Controlled experiments

• Francesco Redi, an Italian doctor, conducted one
  of the first controlled experiments in science.
• A controlled experiment is one which you can
  change just one thing to find the result.

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Redi

• Redi put meat into two jars. He covered one jar
  with a cloth but left the other jar open. The
  two jars and their contents were the same, except
  one thing the cover on one jar.
• He showed that maggots hatched from eggs that
  flies had laid on the meat in the uncovered jar
  and not from the meat itself.

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Redis experiment
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Lazzaro Spallanzani

• Designed an experiment to show that tiny
  organisms come from other tiny organisms in the
  air.
• He sterilized broth in two flasks, sealed one,
  and left the other one open to the air.
• The open flask became cloudy with organisms.
• The sealed flask developed no organisms
• This experiment showed that organisms from the
  air entered showed one flask and not the other
  because it was sealed

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Spallanzanis experiment
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Biogenesis

• The theory that living things come only from
  other living things.

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Lifes Origins
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Oparins Hypothesis

• He suggested that the atmosphere of early Earth
  was made up of gases similar to ammonia,
  hydrogen, methane, and water vapor. No free
  oxygen was present as it is today.

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Oparin

• He felt that complex compounds that fell into the
  hot sea over time formed new and more compounds.
• Eventually the complex compounds were able to
  copy themselves and make use of other chemicals
  for energy and food.

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Millers Experiment

• Miller tested Oparins hypothesis
• He proved that substances present in living
  things could come from nonliving materials in the
  environment. It did not prove that life was
  formed in this way.

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In Conclusion

• Evidence suggests that life was formed from
  nonliving matter 4.6 billion years ago.
• But scientists are still investigating, where
  life came from.