Organism

Characteristics

1. EVOLUTIONARY ADAPTATION
   • All living populations adapt to their environment.
   • Ex: Many animals evolve to be camouflaged to better evade predators
2. RESPONSE TO ENVIRONMENT
   • All living things respond to their environment
   • Ex: The venus fly trap closes in response to a specific stimulus
3. Reproduction
4. GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
   • All living beings grow and develop in certain specific patterns, controlled by genes
5. ENERGY PROCESSING
   • All living beings must use energy to power all the chemical reactions that occur in their bodies
   • METABOLISM: the totality of an organism’s chemical reactions
   • HOMEOSTASIS: the steady-state physiological condition of the body. Refers to the ability of an organism or environment to maintain stability in spite of changes
6. REGULATION
   • All living beings regulate the processes that occur in their bodies, often to maintain homeostasis
   • To maintain a certain body temperature, rabbits can regulate how much blood circulates to their ears; more blood circulating in the ears will allow the rabbit to cool off
7. ORDER
   • All living beings maintain order in their bodies
   • Living beings are not random assortments of organs and tissues
   • Ex: sunflowers have highly ordered spiral arrangements in their centers