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What are 8 things living things need?

These characteristics are reproduction, heredity, cellular organization, growth and development, response to stimuli, adaptation through evolution, homeostasis, and metabolism. Something must have all 8 of these traits to be considered a living thing.

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This tree has responded to the change in temperature.

Characteristics of Life

Everything can be classified as either biotic and abiotic. Abiotic things are nonliving, meaning that they are missing one or more of the 8 characteristics of life, while biotic things are living, which means they do have all 8 of these characteristics. These 8 characteristics are: Reproduction - For something to be considered alive, it must be able to reproduce and create offspring. Heredity - Heredity is the ability to pass on genetic material (DNA) from parent to offspring. This can be in the form of phenotypic traits (the way a living thing looks on the outside) and genotypic traits (the actual genetic code that determines how something behaves and looks). Cellular Organization - All living things are composed of one or more cells. Growth and Development - All organisms develop over time to become more physically and mentally mature. Adaptation Through Evolution - Every living thing has evolved at some point in time, and continues to do so in order to adapt to an everchanging environment. Response to Stimuli - Living things respond to stimuli in their environment. Homeostasis - Homeostasis is a living thing's ability to maintain stable internal factors, such as blood pressure, body temperature (thermoregulation), and water balance within cells. Metabolism - An organism must use chemical reactions to process and/or use resources from the environment in order to continue functioning.

Examples

Reproduction

Reproduction can be either sexual, where offspring inherits genetic material from multiple parents, or asexual, where an offspring inherits genetic material from only one parent. For example, most introductory biology courses mention meiosis and mitosis. In the former, a cell divides to produce two cells with the same number of chromosomes, while the latter creates four cells with half the number of chromosomes of the parent. These processes would both be considered asexual reproduction, as one parent cell creates offspring alone. However, not all reproduction takes place on such a microscopic scale. A baby guppy (or "fry") is a product of sexual reproduction. Two adult guppies have mated to produce this fish, and it will have inherited chromosomes from both of its parents. Although these two reproductive processes are different, both of them still qualify as reproduction, since both result in offspring. Thus, both the individual cells and the guppies have this characteristic of life.

Heredity

Small mammals such as guinea pigs are very interesting, because of the different breeds and how heredity affects them. For example, if a brown long-haired male guinea pig were to reproduce with a ginger-and-white short-haired female, they might have offspring with a variety of different inherited traits. These two guinea pigs could produce one short-haired brown baby, and another ginger-and-white long-haired baby. In this example, these adult guinea pigs have passed down DNA to their offspring, resulting in similarities in heritable traits such as fur length and color. This guinea pig inherited DNA from her parents that gave her her unique coat.

Cellular Organization

How many cells organisms have can vary. Single-celled organisms have just the one, as the name suggests. Humans, on the other hand, have 37.2 trillion cells and 200 different types! Some of these cells make up muscles, others form tissue, some move through the bloodstream as blood cells, and more. Although the number and structure of cells can vary between different organisms, there must be some level of cellular organization for something to be considered alive.

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