Characteristics of Living Things

Living things have six characteristics in common.

All living things:

• have cells.• sense and respond

to change.• reproduce.• have DNA.• use energy.• grow and develop.

All living things have cells.

• Living things are composed of one or more cells

• Smallest unit that can carry life.

• Living things made of more than one cell have specialized cells.

QUICK LAB

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All living things sense and respond to change

• Stimulus-a change that affects the activity of an organism.

• Stimuli can be lights, sounds, hunger or anything that causes an organism to respond in some way.

Living things reproduce

• Sexual reproduction- reproduction in which sex cells from two parents unite to produce offspring that share traits from both parents.

• Asexual reproduction- reproduction that does not involve the union of sex cells and in which one parent produces offspring that are genetically identical to the parent.

All living things have DNA

• deoxyribonucleic acid

• DNA carries the instructions for an organisms traits.

• Parents pass DNA to their organisms during reproduction.

• The passing of traits is called heredity.

All living things use energy.

• Living things use energy to carry out the chemical activities of life.

• For example;changing energy into food, breaking down food, moving materials into and out of the cell, growing, and building new cells.

All living things grow and develop.

• Single celled organisms-the cell gets bigger and divides making other organisms.

• Mulitcellular organisms-the number of cells increase causing the organism to get bigger.