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Chapter 3. LIFE ON EARTH

3.1. WHAT IS A LIVING THING?

WARMING UP
-What is this?

http://list25.com/the-25-weirdest-animals-on-earth/
a) A plant b) An animal c) A cell d) A sponge

PRE-TASK
Here in you will find several things. Some of them are living things, but others
are non-living things. You and your classmate are going to classify them.
STUDENT A chooses living things and STUDENT B chooses non-living things.
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Have you ever thought about the reason why something is a living thing?
Could you decide if these examples below are living things or they are not, and
why?

TASK
1) The three vital functions:
We all know that animals, plants and microbes are living organisms, but defining
what a living thing is may be very difficult.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juxLuo-sH6M

Here below you have a list with characteristics of living things.

Characteristic Short definition

a) The ability to move the body or a
1.- Nutrition
part of it
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b) The ability to react to an

2.- Movement
external or internal change
3.- Interaction c) The production of offspring
d) Going from offspring size to
4.- Growth
adult size
5.- Excretion e) The expulsion of waste products
f) Obtaining energy from other
6.- Reproduction
food
g) Obtaining food to build or
7.- Respiration
maintain the body structures

* What characteristics are essential for something to be considered a living

thing? Scientists have concluded that only three characteristics are essential
for something to be considered a living thing. They are among those in the table
above. Work in pairs and discover them. Make a common conclusion before you
continue reading.

All the organisms in the biosphere are able to perform three vital functions:
- Nutrition,
- Interaction, and
- Reproduction

NUTRITION

Nutrition consists of obtaining food to build or maintain the body structures. It

is an essential characteristic of any living organism.

* - STUDENT A explains what does the grass obtain its food directly from.
- STUDENT B explains what do the zebra or the lion obtain their food from.
- Do you find any difference?
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There are then two kinds of nutrition:

AUTOTROPHIC nutrition and HETEROTROPHIC nutrition
Let us analyse the etymological origin of these two words:
- The word autotroph comes from the Greek autos = "self" and trophe =
"nourishing", nutrition. Autotroph means "self-feeding".
- The word heterotroph comes from the Greek heteros = "another", "different"
and trophe ="nourishing" "nutrition"). Heterotroph means feeding on others

* Now match the organisms to the definition according to their type of nutrition:
1.- Living organisms that produce
a) Autotroph their own food by taking water, CO2
organisms and mineral substances from the
environment.
2.- Living things that obtain their
b)
food by eating other organisms or
Heterotroph
their remains.
organisms

Autotrophic organisms produce their own food (C 6H12O6) by taking water (H2O),
carbon dioxide (CO2) and mineral substances from the environment in a process
called photosynthesis. Not only food, but also oxygen is produced in this process.
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A heterotrophic organism gets its food from other things because it cannot
make food on its own. Energy is obtained by cellular respiration: food is burnt
with oxygen and energy is released, like logs in a chimney

* Autotrophic organisms synthesize food from water, sunlight and carbon

dioxide by photosynthesis, but how do they obtain the energy they need?
a) They do not need energy to survive.
b) By photosynthesis.
c) By cellular respiration, like heterotrophs.

* Organisms require food and energy to survive. Watch this video and fill in the
gaps with the appropriate word.

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/discovery/29542-assignment-discovery-autotrophs-and-heterotrophs-video.htm

Plants, energy, ingest, photosynthesis, animals, autotrophs, Humans,

heterotrophs, sunlight, self-feeders
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Organisms require food to replenish their energy . The y are called autotrophs
or self-feeders .They create food using the process of plants. are autotrophs,
as are many microorganisms. Organisms that cannot photosynthesize are called
heterothophs. They consume either plants or other animals as food. are
heterotrophs and must ingest food as their resource of energy. All life depends
on a steady supply of energy. Its primary resource of energy is sunlight which is
captured by autotrophs during photosynthesis.

INTERACTION
Living organisms are able to sense changes in their environment and react in
order to survive. We call interaction to the ability to react to an external or
internal change. For example, plants grow towards the light and animals detect
food and move towards it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze8NV7cvW8k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yps7pgq1TAk&feature=fvsr

* Remember what you have done since you got up till now. Have you sensed
changes around you? Give as much examples as possible.

I get up, eat breakfast, I went to school did the work in class
REPRODUCTION
Organisms produce descendants that maintain their characteristics. The ability
to produce offspring is called reproduction.
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All living things reproduce. There are two main types of reproduction: sexual and
asexual. Some organisms reproduce by only one type of reproduction but others
can reproduce by both.
* STUDENT A and STUDENT B watch these two videos below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEwzDydciWc&feature=related

(Watch the video in the site)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/edexcel_pre_2011/genes/r
eproductionandcloningrev1.shtml

STUDENT A: choose the correct options for the asexual reproduction.

1. STUDENT B: choose the correct options for the sexual reproduction.
Compare your answers:

ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION (STUDENT A)

a) The type of reproduction where cells from only one parent are used.
b) The type of reproduction in which two gametes from both parents
fuse, forming a zygote. A zygote is also referred to as a fertilised egg.
c) Only genetically-identical organisms are produced by this type of
reproduction.
d) It is common in microorganisms like Bacteria that reproduce by binary
fission. During binary fission, the cell divides into two daughter cells
that are similar in size and shape.
e) This type of reproduction is possible in flowers because they contain
both male and female parts.
f) The offspring is not identical to any of the parents, but it is similar to
both of them.
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SEXUAL REPRODUCTION (STUDENT B):

a) The type of reproduction where cells from only one parent are used.
b) The type of reproduction in which two gametes from both parents
fuse, forming a zygote. A zygote is also referred to as a fertilised egg.
c) Only genetically-identical organisms are produced by this type of
reproduction.
d) It is common in microorganisms like Bacteria that reproduce by binary
fission. During binary fission, the cell divides into two daughter cells
that are similar in size and shape.
e) This type of reproduction is possible in flowers because they contain
both male and female parts.
f) The offspring is not identical to any of the parents, but it is similar to
both of them.
Now compare your answers and write the appropriate word in the gaps under the
two pictures below.

Here above the process called axesual is shown.

B

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/edexcel_pre_2011/genes/reproductionandcloningrev1.shtml

Here above the process called sexual is shown

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*A colony of Tetrabaena socialis, a green algae from a garden pond is being

studied by a biologist

The biologist observes this in the microscope.

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artjan06/blalgae.html

What kind of reproduction has a green algae like the Tetrabaena socialis?
Asexual.
1.
2) The components of the living things:

In this table we can compare the chemical composition of a human and alfalfa (in percent
of dry weight).
Element Adult Human Alfalfa
Carbon 48.43 45.37
Oxygen 23.70 41.04
Nitrogen 12.85 3.30
Hydrogen 6.60 5.54
Calcium 3.45 2.31
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Sulfur 1.60 0.44

Phosphorus 1.58 0.28
Sodium 0.65 0.16
Potassium 0.55 0.91
Chlorine 0.45 0.28
Magnesium 0.10 0.33
TOTAL 99.96 99.96
(Values from the Encyclopedia Britannica, taken from
http://einstein.byu.edu/~masong/htmstuff/textbookpdf/C22.pdf)

What are the four most abundant elements in a human body?

Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Hydrogen.
What are the four most abundant elements in the alfalfa?
Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Hydrogen
Are they the same? Yes/No
Yes.
Atoms join to form molecules. Look at the picture showing for the first time
through a microscope all the atoms in a molecules.

Pentacene as you've never seen it before (Image: IBM and Science)

http:/8/www.newscientist.com/article/dn17699-microscopes-zoom-in-on-molecules-at-last.html
A green algae like the Tetrabaena socialis is made up of thousands of millions of
atoms and molecules. All the living beings in the biosphere are made up not only
of the same elements, but also of similar substances:
- Water (65-90 %):
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- Substances rich in carbon (10-30 %)

- And mineral substances (1-5 %)

Have you ever thought about what do a worm, a dog and a human have in
common?
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Write a few words about your feelings:

q
the dog has the same feelings that people

3) All the living beings in the biosphere are formed by cells

Robert Hooke first coined the term 'cell' after observing the structure of cork
in 1655 through a microscope.

The word cell comes from the Latin cella, meaning "small room". Hooke
compared the cork cells he saw through his microscope to the small rooms where
the monks lived in.
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Cells in a piece of cork and monk cells in the monastery of Zographou

The first observation of living cells was by Anton van Leeuwenhoek in 1674.
But, what is a cell?
Find the definition of a cell:

A cell / three vital functions: / unit of a living thing / and reproduction./

capable of / nutrition, relation, / performing the / is the smallest

A cell is the smallest unit of a living thing capable of performing three vital
fuctions:nutrition relation and reproduction .
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To finish with:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOLAGYmUQV0
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KEY
3.1. WHAT IS A LIVING THING?
WARMING UP
-What is this?

a) A plant
b) An animal
c) A cell
d) A sponge

It is a fish inhabiting the deep waters off the coasts of Australia and Tasmania.
It is called a blobfish. (to know more about this weird deep sea fish:
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/deep-sea-creatures/2/2)

PRE-TASK
* STUDENT A: LIVING THINGS: toadstools, crab, cactus, mouse, fern, spider,
beetle, pine tree, bird.
STUDENT B: NON-LIVING THINGS: key, ice, magnet, flame, water, bubbles,
sand, rocks, mud, juice.
TASK
* Match every characteristic to its short definition.

What characteristics are essential for something to be considered a living

thing?
All the organisms in the biosphere are able to perform three vital functions:
nutrition, interaction, and reproduction
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* Now match the organisms to the definition according to their type of

nutrition:

* Autotrophic organisms synthesize food from the water, the sun and carbon
dioxide by photosynthesis, but how do they obtain the energy they need?
a) They do not need energy to survive.
b) By photosynthesis.
c) By cellular respiration, like heterotrophs.

* Organisms require food and energy to survive. Watch this video and fill in the
gaps with the appropriate word.

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/discovery/29542-assignment-discovery-autotrophs-and-heterotrophs-video.htm

Organisms require food to replenish their energy. They are called autotrophs or
self-feeders. They create food using the process of photosynthesis. Plants are
autotrophs, as are many microorganisms. Organisms that cannot photosynthesize
are called heterotrophs. They consume either plants or other animals as food.
Humans are heterotrophs and must ingest food as their resource of energy. All
life depends on a steady supply of energy. Its primary resource of energy is
sunlight which is captured by autotrophs during photosynthesis.

INTERACTION
* Remember what you have done since you got up till now. Have you sensed
changes around you? Give as much examples as possible.
I have listened to the alarm clock and I have got up. When washing my hands I
felt the water was cold. Afterwards I moved my body to look for something to
have breakfast, it smelled so well!

REPRODUCTION
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* STUDENT A and STUDENT B watch these two videos below.

STUDENT A: choose the correct options for the asexual reproduction.
STUDENT B: choose the correct options for the sexual reproduction.
Compare your answers:

ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION (STUDENT A)

a) The type of reproduction where cells from only one parent are used.
b) The type of reproduction in which two gametes from both parents
fuse, forming a zygote. A zygote is also referred to as a fertilised egg.
c) Only genetically-identical organisms are produced by this type of
reproduction.
d) It is common in microorganisms like Bacteria that reproduce by binary
fission. During binary fission, the cell divides into two daughter cells
that are similar in size and shape.
e) This type of reproduction is possible in flowers because they contain
both male and female parts.
f) The offspring is not identical to any of the parents, but it is similar to
both of them.

SEXUAL REPRODUCTION (STUDENT B):

a) The type of reproduction where cells from only one parent are used.
b) The type of reproduction in which two gametes from both parents
fuse, forming a zygote. A zygote is also referred to as a fertilised egg.
c) Only genetically-identical organisms are produced by this type of
reproduction.
d) It is very common in microorganisms like Bacteria that reproduce by
binary fission. During binary fission, the cell divides into two daughter
cells that are similar in size and shape.
e) This type of reproduction is possible in flowers, because they contain
both male and female parts.
f) The offspring is not identical to any of the parents, but it is similar to
both of them.
Now compare your answers and write the appropriate word in the gaps under the
two pictures below.
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Here above the process called asexual reproduction is shown.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/edexcel_pre_2011/genes/reproductionandcloningrev1.shtml

Here above the process called sexual reproduction is shown

*A colony of Tetrabaena socialis, a green algae from a garden pond is being

studied by a biologist
What kind of reproduction has a green algae like the Tetrabaena socialis? A
green algae presents asexual reproduction

- The components of the living things:

* What are the four most abundant elements in a human body?
Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Hydrogen
What are the four most abundant elements in the alfalfa?
Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Hydrogen
Are they the same? Yes/No
Have you ever thought about what do a worm, a dog and a human have in
common?
* Write a few words about your feelings: Personally, the fact that all of us are
maid of the same elements and very similar substances maid me feel sick. A man
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and a worm How revolting!. However, after a while I felt we are all maid the
same. It is a kind of union of all the living things. That is marvellous!. Isnt it?

3) All the living beings in the biosphere are formed by cells

* Find the definition of a cell:

A cell is the smallest unit of a living thing capable of performing the three vital
functions: nutrition, relation, and reproduction.