Living beings are organisms that have essential characteristics that allow them to be distinguished from non-living beings.
For example, we can say that a plant is a living being, as it has properties such as growth, reproduction and cell organization. These characteristics are not observed in a being that has no life, such as the Sun.
living and non-living beings
We often hear that living beings are those that are born, grow, reproduce and die. However, these organisms have other characteristics that, together, allow their existence and life.
Terrestrial ecosystems are formed by biotic factors, that is, living communities and abiotic factors, which correspond to non-living elements. In this context, living beings need non-living beings to survive. For example, living things like a tree and a flower need non-living things like water, soil and the sun to exist.
Check out some examples of living beings and non-living beings.
| Living beings | non-living beings |
|---|---|
Producers (algae and plants) |
Water |
| Consumer beings (herbivores and carnivores) | Air |
| Decomposing beings (fungi and bacteria) | Ground |
One of the most striking features is the presence of cells in the structure of living beings. All living beings, with the exception of viruses, are made up of cells, whether it is just one (unicellular beings) or more cells (multicellular beings).
Learn more about living and non-living beings.
What about viruses?
While some scholars classify the virus just as infectious particles, many researchers place them in the group of living beings by have genetic material, be able to reproduce and undergo changes that represent a evolution.
Characteristics of living beings
The general characteristics of living beings allow us to differentiate them from non-living beings. This set of properties allow us to define what we call life. Check out some features below.
cell organization
THE cell it can be defined as the fundamental unity of living beings. It is a highly organized structure that performs vital functions within you. Cells can be of two types: eukaryotic and prokaryotic.
Eukaryotic cells form eukaryotic organisms such as fungi, plants and animals. They are more complex structures than the prokaryotic cells that make up prokaryotic beings, such as bacteria.
Metabolism
Living beings have chemical reactions inside cells to regulate the energy and materials needed to meet their needs.
These biochemical processes can be divided into anabolism, which groups the synthesis and construction reactions, and catabolism, which brings together the breakdown or degradation reactions.
Growth
Living beings grow and develop, either by increasing the volume of cells (hypertrophy) or cell multiplication (hyperplasia).
In living beings we can observe individual growth, according to the characteristics of each species. For this, genetics, hormones, nutrition and metabolism are some of the related factors.
reproduction
Living beings are able to increase the number of species through reproduction. New individuals can be generated from sexual reproduction, by the union of gametes male and female, or by asexual reproduction, which have as examples bipartition, budding and sporulation.
Other important features are the nutrition, as all living beings need food to survive and energy processing, since a source of energy is essential for them to carry out their activities.
To learn more about these features and learn about others, read characteristics of living beings.
Exercises on living beings
question 1
What is a living being?
Answer: A living being is an organism that has fundamental characteristics that are used to mark the life factor and thus differentiate it from a non-living being.
question 2
Name at least three important characteristics that living things have.
Answer: Cell growth, reproduction and organization.
question 3
What are living beings made of?
Answer: Living beings present the cell as a smaller unit, as they can be formed by only one cell (unicellular) or more (multicellular).
The only exception are viruses, acellular organisms considered by many scholars as living beings, as they share some characteristics.
question 4
Name 5 examples for living beings and 5 examples for non-living beings.
Reply:
Living beings: Animals, fungi, plants, algae and bacteria.
Non-living beings: Snow, rock, water, air and fire.
Get more knowledge with the contents:
- Biotic and abiotic factors
- classification of living beings
- Exercises on classification of beings
