Seven Characteristics Of Life

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The Seven Characteristics of Life A living organism must possess seven characteristics, each one is explained below; MOVEMENT: This is obvious in humans and animals, we move all the time, our body is capable of walking, running, down to the smallest movement of blinking etc. Also we move from one place to another, this is called locomotion. Plants also move but in a different way, the flower opens and closes or the plant may bend towards the sun. EXCRETION: This is getting rid of chemical waste from the body, through urinating & sweating etc. Excretion should not be confused with egestion which is the removal of undigested food/faeces from the body. (Boyle & Senior, 2002) RESPIRATION: Breathing is the intake of oxygen, respiration is releasing energy from food, we need oxygen to do this and this is called aerobic respiration. Sometimes, like when we are exercising, we run out of oxygen, so our body uses the backup resources, this is called anaerobic respiration. (S-cool.co.uk) REPRODUCTION: There are two main types of reproduction, sexual & asexual. Sexual is when you need a male & a female to create offspring. Humans do this by intercourse; plants rely on the wind or insects to pollinate other plants. Asexual reproduction is when something clones itself, so it produces something identical without the help of a second party, some plants can do this, like strawberries when they produce runners. (S-cool.co.uk) IRRITABILTY: Also known as sensitivity. All living organisms react to certain things; internal stimuli would be when we react to things from inside, like the pain of a headache or being hungry, external stimuli would be when we react to things that happen around us. Like if the light was to bright our eyes would react to this or a plant could be made to grow towards a light. NUTRITION: This is obviously the intake of food or drink but there
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