Inquiry Into Life
Inquiry Into Life
15th Edition
ISBN: 9781260177671
Author: Mader, Sylvia S., Windelspecht, Michael
Publisher: Mcgraw-hill Education,
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Chapter 1, Problem 1CS
Summary Introduction

To analyze:

The basic characteristics that define life.

Introduction:

The ecosystem consists of both living and non-living things. Living things have a number of characteristics which easily distinguishes them from non-living things.

Expert Solution & Answer
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Explanation of Solution

The basic characteristics that define life are listed below:

  1. Sensing the changes in the environment - The environment is not constant in nature. Living things have the capacity to sense differences in the environment. For example, the receptor organs can detect changes in the environment.
  2. Capability to grow and change form - Living things can grow through processes like cell division. Due to this growth, their morphological features change.
  3. Capability to reproduce and the production of offspring - Living things reproduce either sexually or asexually.
  4. Complex metabolic machinery - The overall enzyme-mediated chemical reactions that include synthetic (anabolism) and destructive processes (catabolism) are known as metabolism. For example, the process of photosynthesis, cellular respiration, etc. are the processes of metabolic reactions.
  5. Mechanisms to maintain homeostasis - The maintenance of a constant interval environment regardless of the changing environment are termed as homeostasis.
  6. Cellular makeup − All life forms from unicellular to multicellular, either plants or animal and even microbes are anatomically made up of cells. Cells are the basic structural and functional unit of life.
  7. Passing on genetic traits to young ones - As traits are determined by genes, the offspring possess a combination of characteristics of the parents.
Conclusion

Sensing changes in the environment, the capability to grow and change form, the capability to reproduce and the production of offspring, complex metabolic machinery, mechanisms to maintain homeostasis, cellular makeup, and passing on genetic traits to young ones are the basic characteristics that define life.

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