ORDINARY BIOLOGY

 

EDUCATION THROUGH COMMUNICATION

INTRODUCTION: Characteristics of Living Things

CHARACTERISTICS	RESPECTIVE FUNCTIONS
CELL	The basic structural and functional unit of all living things.
NUTRITION	Taking in of materials like organic compounds, molecules and ions for: growth, development, tissue repair and energy.
GROWTH	A permanent increase in size and dry mass due to an increase in the number of cells, the cell size or both.
RESPIRATION	The chemical reactions in cells that break down nutrient molecules and release energy for metabolism.
SENSITIVITY	The ability to detect or sense stimuli in the internal or external environment and to make appropriate responses.
MOVEMENT	An action by an organism or part of an organism which results in displacement (a change of position or place)
EXCRETION	Removal from organisms of the waste products of metabolism (chemical reactions in cells which include respiration); toxic material and substances in excess of requirements. NB: this is different from egestion.
REPRODUCTION	The processes that take place in order to make more of the same kind of organism.

You can try to recall this with a different order, by saying MRS GREN C (using the initials). Try to rearrange the rows of the table in the order M R S G R E N C.

CELLS

As we read from the table, we had to appreciate the size of a cell. it is relatively small compared to an organism. In the figure below, we can see labeled diagrams of the two important types of cells which we are going to be studying. The top one is the plant cell and the one below it is the animal cell: