Millions of different species of life exist today on the planet Earth. Throughout all of the kingdoms of life, each individual organism has a few important qualities needed to do simple functions for living. For example, every species has a way of obtaining oxygen and energy, reproducing, removing waste, moving oxygen through the body, and supporting it’s structure. These few processes are done by every living thing. Even species as diverse as elephants, wasps and sundew plants all have the ability to function in those ways, but sometimes they have different structures to accomplish the same tasks. All in all, once one discovers how different walks of life survive in their own brilliant ways, life can be seen from a new perspective. One …show more content…
Due to the large size of elephants, their organ structures need to be very large. Other than the difference in size, elephants have circulatory systems similar to all mammals with a four-chambered heart that is efficient in pumping blood through the blood vessels. Compared to most mammals, the elephant’s heart beats slower and they have wide and long blood vessels, leading to a higher blood pressure than other animals. Wasps and many insects have an open circulatory system, meaning that there are no veins or arteries, but rather their hemolymph has direct contact with organs and tissues. The hemolymph is the insect equivalent to blood, but it lacks red blood cells and the ability to carry oxygen. A single blood vessel located in the abdomen serves the same function as a heart, and can pump the hemolymph through the different chambers. Plants have neither of these structures, but they have vascular tissues running throughout the plant that carry nutrients, water and other things to and from the leaves, stem, flower and roots of plants like the sundew.
Energy is needed to do all functions including active transport, cellular division, growing and developing and many other things. Wasps, depending on specific species, can get their energy from consuming other insects or spiders, or drinking sweet nectar from plants. Similarly, elephants also get their energy from eating, but they strictly consume
Life, it might be argued, is the distinguishing feature of all organisms and may most usefully be thought of as involving various kinds of complex systems of organization providing individual organisms with the ability to make use of those energy sources available to them for both self maintenance and reproduction. Underlying this deceptively persuasive definition, however, lie those persistent traditional problems inherent in the search for an essential, distinctive substance characteristic of all forms of life. Additionally, as evolution theory makes clear, there is the problem of borderline instances, organisms of which it is not easy to say whether or not they may be defined as being alive. One such case
Living organisms display specific characteristics. They respond to external stimuli, use energy, reproduce, and contain materials that are only found in living organisms. They sense, adapt, and alter their environment. Living organisms have a high degree of organization and maintain a constant internal environment (Ireland, 2012). These characteristics displayed by a chia pet, however are not displayed by an inanimate object, such as a rock.
* Energy is required because it allows most functions and reactions to happen in the organism
Organisms use energy to distribute materials throughout their bodies, and then transport and eliminate the wastes produced by their bodies. The sense and respond to certain stimuli, defend themselves from predators, and grow/reproduce.
Energy keeps all living organisms alive, as they need a continual supply of energy to function in order to survive. Some of these processes are continuous such as, metabolism, which is the chemical reactions which occur in the body, these occur by using or releasing energy from chemical substances. Another continuous process which use energy is the transporting of molecules in order for them to break down, and to build new ones. The breakdown of large molecules into their simpler forms to release energy is known as catabolism, for example, when glucose is used in a cell to release energy. And the opposite reaction, is called anabolism. This is when energy is used to build complex structures from simple cells, for example, tissue growth and
Energy metabolism is where the nutrients oxygen and glucose are took in and delivered the organs. Energy is needed in order for our body to be able to function. Energy helps break down molecules and to build new molecules.
To maintain life, organisms must be able to convert energy from one form to another. For example, in the process of photosynthesis, algae, plants, and photosynthetic prokaryotes use the energy from sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water to glucose and oxygen (a waste product).
All organisms in the world have a range of systems and organs in their body. Some organisms may share similar body systems while others have absolutely nothing in common. Several of those organisms include humans, pigs, crayfish, and earthworms. From their mushy, gushy organs to their soft, gentle skin, you may think, “How are humans and pigs possibly alike? Or a crayfish and an earthworm?” In many ways they may not be, but in other ways, they are very much alike. The body systems that will be compared and contrasted of these organisms are the nervous, circulatory, reproductive, muscular, integumentary, digestive, excretory, and skeletal systems.
All of these members of the community are one organism, living, growing, surviving, despite all odds against
Pascale et al. (2000), adds that as this experimentation and discovery is taking place, the components of the living systems self-organize; thus, creating new forms that emerge from the turmoil.
Through this, I have learned about evolution. I find it shocking that one DNA sequence is what differentiates certain species from others. I have learned about switches, which takes a big role in the makeup of organisms and its diversity. Between Darwin’s knowledge and today’s knowledge, I am beginning to make connections about
There is an almost personal quality given to living things, particularly to the process of evolution. Most evolutionary scientists would not put it this way. To them evolution proceeds blindly, without purpose, without direction. This intelligence or purposefulness in nature actually reflects a pantheistic or new age perspective on the biological
Animal science is a very broad topic. Form General Animal Science class I have learned that animal science is concerned with the science and also with the business to produce livestock such as cattle, horses, sheep, swine and poultry. In this course I have also learned that the scientists apply various genetic modifications on animal to increase production and management of livestock. To supply for the demand of animal in worldwide the industries of livestock are responsible for maintaining the well-being of the animals. The three concepts that I learned after taking this class are choosing the right breed of animal is necessary for mass production, genetic selection, and food safety.
The theory of evolution is significant as repeated testing that explains “an observable, verifiable truth – that life on this plant has changed over time.” (Fuentes, 22) It is the well-supported history of where all life came from on this planet.
The main goal for many agricultural producers across the country is to annually improve the quality of their stock. For certain companies such as Cargill and JBS who are two of the largest protein distributors across the globe, an improvement for their stock could be reaching their end point faster. For other operations involved in the purebred or show aspect of the industry improving the quality could mean producing better structured animals who are larger framed.