Life Processes: Maintenance and Energy

• Distinguishing between living and non-living involves observing movement, growth, and molecular motion.
• Molecular movements are crucial for life, essential for repairing and maintaining the structures of living organisms.

Life Processes

• Life processes are the maintenance functions that occur in living organisms, even when at rest.
• Energy is needed to prevent damage and break-down.
• This energy comes from food through a process called nutrition.
• Additional raw materials are needed from outside for growth.
• Most food sources are carbon-based.
• Food sources need to be broken down and converted into a uniform energy source through chemical reactions.
• Many organisms use oxygen in oxidizing-reducing reactions to break down molecules, a process called respiration.
• Single-celled organisms exchange gases and remove wastes through their entire surface.
• Multi-cellular organisms require specialized tissues for the uptake of food and oxygen.
• A transportation system is needed to carry food and oxygen from one place to another in the body.
• Waste by-products need to be removed from the body through a process called excretion.

Nutrition

• Energy is needed to maintain order in the body, even without apparent activity.
• How living things get food, the general requirement for energy and materials is common in all organisms but is fulfilled in different ways.
• Some organisms, autotrophs, use simple food material from inorganic sources like carbon dioxide and water includes green plants and some bacteria
• Other organisms, heterotrophs, utilize more complex substances broken down by enzymes include animals and fungi

Autotrophic Nutrition

• Carbon and energy requirements of autotrophs are fulfilled through photosynthesis.
• Autotrophs convert carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates using sunlight and chlorophyll.
• Carbohydrates not immediately used are stored as starch.
• Energy is stored in our body in the form of glycogen.
• During photosynthesis, light energy is absorbed by chlorophyll, converted to chemical energy, and used to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.
• Carbon dioxide is then reduced to carbohydrates.
• Desert plants take up carbon dioxide at night and use the energy absorbed by chlorophyll during the day.
• Chlorophyll is essential for photosynthesis.
• Plants which have stomata are able to obtain carbon dioxide.
• Stomata are tiny pores on the surface of leaves.
• Gases and water are exchanged through the surface of stems, roots, and leaves as well as the plant.
• Guard cells regulate the opening and closing of stomata based on water flow.
• Terrestrial plants get water for photosynthesis from the soil by the roots.
• Other materials like nitrogen, iron, and magnesium is uptaken from the soil.
• Nitrogen is taken up in the form of nitrates, nitrites, or organic compounds prepared by bacteria from atmospheric nitrogen.

Heterotrophic Nutrition

• Nutrition depends on factors such as the availability of food source (stationary or mobile) and how the organism depends on the organism.
• Some organisms break down food outside the body and then absorb it which examples includes fungi like bread moulds, yeast and mushrooms.
• Others take in material and breaks it down inside their bodies which includes what can be taken in.
• Some derive nutrition from plants and animals without killing them using parasitic nutritive.

How Organisms Obtain Nutrition

• Since food and the manner to obtain it differ, the digestive system is different in different organisms.
• Single-celled organisms take in food from the entire surface.
• The complexity of the organism increases, parts become specialized to perform different functions.
• Takes in food, the amoeba takes in food using extensions of the cell surface which fuse the food particle to form a food-vacuole.
• Paramoecium the cell has a definite shape and food is taken in at a specific spot.

Nutrition in Human Beings

• The alimentary canal is a long tube extending from the mouth to the anus.
• The tube has different parts with specialized functions.
• Generating smaller particles with the same texture is achieved by crushing food with teeth and wetting to make it smooth.
• Fluids, called saliva secreted by the salivary glands breaks down food into small particles ready to absorb better in the alimentary canal.
• An aspect of food taken in is its complex nature.
• The saliva contains amylase that breaks down starch.
• The food is mixed with saliva while chewing.
• The canals muscles contract to push food around and forward
• Food then goes to the stomach through the oesophagus.
• Its muscular walls helps mix the food with juices.
• The acid will protect the mucus from lining through the acid.
• Exit from the stomach is regulated by a muscle.
• When food goes into the small intestine it has complete digestion of proteins, fats and carbs.
• It receives secretion of the liver for the purpose.
• Enzyme in the intestine convert material into proteins, amino acids, glucose and fats/glycerols.
• Wall absorb everything, inner has projections that can increase the surface.
• Vessels take food to cells and use for energy.
• Unabsorbed material is sent to large intestine for more water to be absorbed.
• And waste expelled through anus.

Respiration

• Nutritional food is used to give energy.
• Some use oxygen and some not to generate energy.
• First a component get broken down (6 carbon molecules into 3 called pyruvate).
• Then the components may be converted into carbon dioxide.
• The process is called anarobic energy respriation when it takes place in absense of air
• Aerobic repiration is when oxygen is broken down in presence of the mitochondria (greater release of energy)
• Another way to break down when lack of oxygen (pyruvate is converted to Lactic Acid)
• The buildup of lactic Acid causes cramps.
• Energy released during all the cell repiratation is syntesized to molecule called ATP
• Then other ways to release energy if needed.
• Organisms must intake sufficent oxygen for repiration.
• Large space for carbon dioxide and oxygen to take in.

Human Respiration

• Exchange of 02 and Co2 depend on the environment of plant.
• At night exchange is Co2 and during the day it is O2.
• Water uses O2 under water.
• Humans take in air through nostrils and filters it.
• It passes through the muscles into the lungs with rings of cartilage to strengthen passage.
• Passage gets smaller and ends with balloon like structures called Alveoli (exchange takes place there.
• Diaphram allows air to suct into the lungs.
• Blood vessel relase Co2 and oxygen.
• During cycle the lungs have suffient residual air so the gasses are mixed.
• Oxygen is absorbed to release and the carbon dioxide.
• If a size is large, diffusion pressure cannot deliver.
• Instead pigments take up and carry oxygen from the rest of the lungs to the air of deficent
• Hemoglobin is oxygenated and carried pigmnt carries corpuescles.
• Co2 is more soluble in water and transferred in the body.

Transportation in Human Beings

• Fluid goes to tissues.
• Blood vessels are needed to repair.
• Blood consist of fluid called Plasma, Oxygen is carried by red blood vessles.
• Salty substances are transported by blood.

Heart Pump

• Heart is a muscluar organ the size of fist.
• Has chambers to prevent 02 from mixing (preventing being carbin dioxide).
• Deoxygenated blood reaches the lungs (removed by carbon diosize). Oxygen brought back to lungs.
• Right ventricle releases blood to be oxygenated.
• Has to pump which takes 2 cycles in all vertebretes (double circulation).
• Vessels carry away from heart to body. Vessels on the body gives oxygen and give body heat
• Then the vessels go to lungs back to give carbon disoise.

Blood Pressure

• Greater in artiers instead of veins.
• Greater in arteries then arterioles result in blood flow (high blood pressure).
• Walls divide smalelr and smaller to cells (capillaries). Exchange in small tissues.
• Platelets help regulate blood.

Lymph

• There are cells that involve and plug these leaks.
• Tissue fluid that leaks is Lymph. Comes from space and becomes less in the blood
• Some is captured and absorbed in the veins.

Transportation in Plants

• Plants synthesize raw materials so body transport parts (minerals, CO2 etc)
• Diffiusion can transport in short areas if not a good transporation system is needed.
• In that case, a transporations system may move or stores to transport.
• A part called Xylem moves the raw materials in soil. Plolem transfers photosyntehsis.

Transport in Water

• In xylem has vessels to transort at one location
• Cells connect that has roots that takes up ions. It creates a difference in concentrations and eliminates them. Water is pushed upwards to create movement.
• Another strategey creates movements to take water to top plants.
• Transpiration causes water to transport.
• Evaporation of plants creates section to pulls water.
• Transport of heat and regulation is help in transpiration.

Transporation in Food

• Metabloic products are transported particularly and moves food which is called translocation.
• Pholem transports and the sunbstances gives storgae and growing material and the plant translocates it
• Xylem use simple motion, transport is acheived by transofrming energy. Some is transforemted. Increases odomstic pressure where the water moves because of those. allows it to plant needs.

Excretion

• Take gasseous wastes to remove (metabloic wastes).
• Removes harmful metabilc productd from wastes.
• Single cellular releases thru the body near surronding water. _Multi cellular use speacilized. _

Excertion in Human Beings

• Consist of Kidneys, Bkladder Urethra
• Kindey filter wastes.
• Has nephrons
• Capillaries are thin.
• Cluster has coil called Bowmans capsule(collects flitrate in the kidney).
• Glouse amino and salt is water is reabsorbed.
• Pressure is used to expand and relase bladder.
• Kidneys organs are vital they can even kill you if damaged.
• Can remove using Artifical Kidney has dialyzer.
• Reabsortion happens in kidney tubes.

Excretion in Plants

• Use differnt strategies than animal.
• Oxygen generates photo syntheis.
• Excretes and dies and remove parts.
• Store waste in cell vacs or falls on leaves.