LIVING

THINGS
1. THE EARTH: PLANET OF
LIFE
2. BIOELEMENTS AND
BIOMOLECULES
3. CELLS
4. VITAL FUNCTIONS
5. CLASSIFICATION OF
LIVING THINGS
6. KINGDOMS AND
BIODIVERSITY
1. THE EARTH: PLANET
OF LIFE
The Earth provides perfect conditions for
hosting life:
1. The distance between the Sun and the
Earth provides an adequate temperature
for liquid water to exist.
2. Water in a liquid state: Living things use
water to carry out cellular processes.
3. Terrestrial atmosphere, that protects us
from dangerous radiations and allows the
greenhouse effect to take place.
4. The presence of basic chemical elements
that living things use to create our own
molecules.
 Common characteristics
of living things:
• Chemical elements found in
living things are different from
those found in non-living things.
• Living things have exclusive
molecules which are not found in
non-living things.
• Living things are made of cells
and perform the three vital
functions: nutrition, interaction
and reproduction.
QUES TIONS
OF POINT 1:

1. What are the 4 characteristics of our

planet that provide perfect conditions for
hosting life?
2. What are the 3 common characteristics
in living things?
 2. BIOELEMENT S AND
BIOMOLECULES
• Living things, like all matter of the Universe,
are made up of very small particles called
atoms. Each kind of atom is a chemical
element.
• Bioelements are the elements that form part
of living things. The most abundant are
carbon (C), oxygen (O), hydrogen (H),
nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and sulphur (S).
• Combinations of these bioelements form
biomolecules, that are the molecules that
form part of living things.
 Types of biomolecules :

INORGANIC BIOMOLECULES: They are ORGANIC BIOMOLECULES: They are

present in living things and non-living unique to living things. Carbon is their
things. They do not contain carbon. principal element.
1. Water: Is the most abundant 1. Carbohydrates/glucids: They provide
substance in living things. Water is instant energy for organisms.
necessary for chemical reactions and 2. Lipids: They store energy for future
to transport all other substances. needs.
2. Mineral salts: They make up shells, 3. Proteins: They form structures such
bones or teeth, and participate in as hair, nails and muscles.
important celular processes.
4. Nucleic acids: They control cell
function and heredity.
QUES TIONS OF POINT 2:
1. What are bioelements?
2. What are the most common bioelements?
3. What are biomolecules?
4. What are the differences between
inorganic and organic biomolecules?
5. What is the function of…
a) …water?
b) …mineral salts?
c) …carbohydrates?
d) …lipids?
e) …proteins?
f) …nucleic acids?
 3. CELLS
• Cells are structural and functional units of all
living things.
• We divide living things into two categories:
• Unicellular living things have only one cell,
such as bacteria, protozoa and many fungi
and algae.
• Multicellular living things have many cells,
such as plants and animals, and some fungi
and algae.
The discovery of cells:
Robert Hooke was the first person to use
the term cells. In 1665, with a rudimentary
microscope, he observed cavities in a thin
slice of cork, and called them cells.
 Cell structure:
• The plasma membrane is the envelope
around the cell, that separates the inside
of the cell from the exterior. It allows
substances to enter and exit the cell.
Some cells have another rigid outer casing
called cell wall.
• Cytoplasm is a watery substance found in
the interior of cells. Organelles are small
structures in the cytoplasm, which are
specialised in performing specific
functions.
• The nucleic acid contains genetic
information that controls and regulates
how cell works. It can be dispersed within
the cytoplasm, or surrounded by a
nuclear membrane.
 Cell types:
• Prokaryotic cells have no nucleus and
genetic material is dispersed thorough
the cytoplasm. They are simpler and
smaller than eukaryotic cells. They are
covered by a cell wall. Bacteria are made
up of prokaryotic cells.
• Eukaryotic cells have a nucleus. There
are two types: some of them have a cell
wall and contain chloroplasts with the
chlorophyll and are called plant cells,
and the others do not have these
organelles and are called animal cells.
Multicellular or ganisation :
Cells in multicellular living things are organised in levels. The cells work together to carry out the
vital functions.
• Cells are specialised: they have specific functions. Each type has a unique shape and structure.
• Tissues are groups of cells with the same function. Example: muscle cells form muscle tissue.
• Organs are groups of various tissues which act together. Example: a muscle is an organ made up
of muscle tissue, nerve tissue, connective tissue and blood tissue.
• Systems are made up of several organs. Example: the digestive system includes the stomach, the
intestines, etc.
 QUESTIONS OF POINT 3:
1. Write the definition of a cell.
2. Fill in the gaps:
• The envelope around the cell is called……………..………….. Inside
of it, there is a watery substance called……………………..………….
The…………………………...contains genetic information. In 1665,
the scientist…………………………….first described a cell.
• Cells without a nucleus are called……………………………., which
are bacteria. They are covered by a………………………………
• Cells with nucleus are called……………………………….., and there
are two types: some of them contain………….…………………with
the chlorophyll and are called……………………….. and the others
do not have these organelles and are called……………………………
 …more questions:
1. What are unicellular living things?
2. What are multicellular living things?
3. What is the function of plasma membrane?
4. What are organelles?
5. What is the function of the nucleic acid of the
cell?
6. What are…
a) …tissues?
b) …organs?
c) …systems?
 4. VITAL
FUNCTIONS
All living things carry
out three vital functions:
1. Nutrition.
2. Interaction.
3. Reproduction.
 Nutrition:
• Nutrition refers to all the processes which enable living
things to obtain the energy and matter they need to live.
• There are two types of nutrition, depending on the type of
matter obtained:
a) Autotrophic nutrition: This type of nutrition is
performed by organisms that obtain inorganic
materials from the environment, which they
transform into organic material. Plants, algae and
some bacteria perform autotrophic nutrition.
b) Heterotrophic nutrition: This is performed by
organisms that take organic matter from the
environment. Animals, fungi, protozoa and some
bacteria perform heterotrophic nutrition.
 Interaction :
• Interaction refers to all the processes that enable
living things to detect any changes in the
environment and react to them. For example:
plants grow towards the light; animals flee from
predators.
• Stimuli are the changes in the environment that
may provoke a response in a living thing. They
are perceived by the receptors, which are cells or
structures specialised in perceiving stimuli.
 R eproduction :
• Reproduction refers to all the processes which
enable living things to create new living things.
• There are two types of reproduction:
a) Asexual reproduction: a single
individual creates multiple descendants
which are identical. It occurs in all
unicellular organisms and in some
multicellular ones.
b) Sexual reproduction: it involves living
things of different sexes. Each one
provides a sex cell or gamete. The two
sex cells join to form the first cell of a
new living thing, the zygote.
Multicellular organisms perform this
type of reproduction.
Q UES TIO NS
1. What is nutrition?
O F PO INT
2. How is autotrophic nutrition different from
4: heterotrophic nutrition? Write also an example of an
autotrophic living thing and another that is
heterotrophic.
3. What is interaction?
4. What is reproduction?
5. How is asexual reproduction different from sexual
reproduction? Explain each one.
 5. CLASSIFICATION OF
LIVING THINGS
• We need to classify living things in order to
recognise and study them.
• Classifying is grouping different elements
according to common characterisctics. These
criteria are known as classification criteria.
• The criteria to classify living things must be:
1. Natural: They must be based on
functional or anatomical aspects, not on
random criteria.
2. Objective: They don´t depend on the
person who is carrying out the
classification.
3. Discriminatory: They must be
characteristics that some of the elements
we´re classifying have, but not all of them.
How living things are
classified?
• Taxonomy is the science that classifies
living things according to natural criteria.
• Each group of living things with common
characteristics is called taxon.
• There are 7 taxonomic categories:
1 Kingdom, 2 Phyllum, 3 Class, 4
Order, 5 Family, 6 Genus, 7 Species.
• A species is a group of individuals that
share common characteristics and can
reproduce, creating fertile offspring.
How are living things
named?
• To name each species, scientists use
the binomial nomenclature
created by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.
• Each species must be named using
two Latin words: The first one
(with an initial capital letter)
indicates the genus, and the second
one indicates a characteristic of the
species itself.
 QUESTIONS OF POINT 5:
1. Why do we need to classify living things?
2. What is classifying living things?
3. What three characteristics must the criteria have?
4. What is taxonomy?
5. What is a taxon?
6. What are the names of the seven taxonomic
categories?
7. What is a species?
8. What is the name of the scientist who proposed the
binomial nomenclature in 1753?
9. How can we name a species using the binomial
nomenclature?
10. Looking at the scientific names, how can we know if
two species belong to the same genus?
 6. KINGDOMS AND BIODIVERSITY

Kingdom MONERAN PROTOCTISTS FUNGUS PLANT ANIMAL

Type of cell Prokaryote Eukaryote Eukaryote Eukaryote Eukaryote
Cell structure Unicellular Unicellular or Unicellular or Multicellular Multicellular
multicellular multicellular
Tissues No tissues No tissues No tissues Yes Yes
Nutrition type Autotrophic or Autotrophic or Heterotrophic Autotrophic Heterotrophic
heterotrophic heterotrophic
Living things Bacteria Protozoa and Yeasts, moulds Liverworts, Invertebrates
algae and mushrooms mosses, ferns and vertebrates
and
spermatophytes
 • The variety of different living things on the
Earth is called biodiversity. It includes the
Biodiversity variety of individuals within a species, as well as
of species and ecosystems.
• Preserving biodiversity is essential for several
reasons:
• Living things provide us with a great variety
of materials, food and medicines. Some also
maintain the quality of water and soil.
• The extinction of one species affects all the
other species that interact with it. If habitats
are damaged or destroyed, the living things
that live there are also affected.
 QUESTIONS OF POINT 6
1. To which Kingdom do organisms with these
characteristics belong?
a) Multicellular eukaryotes, which form
tissues and are autotrophic.
b) Eukaryotes uni or multicellular, without
tissues and are heterotrophic.
c) Unicellular and prokaryotic, they are
bacteria.
d) Multicellular eukaryotes, with tissues, and
are heterotrophic.
e) Uni or multicellular eukaryotes, without
tissues, some autotrophic and other
heterotrophic.
2. What is biodiversity?
3. Why is it so important to protect biodiversity?