Properties of living organisms

All of these share the following properties -

· Living organisms have definite organisation.

· Living organisms posses cellular nature so are either unicellular as in Amoeba, Paramecium etc. or multicellular as in Hydra, man etc.

· They show co-ordination between different parts of body to maintain homeostasis ie constant internal environment inside the body.

· They posses the ability of movements and locomotion.

· They show metabolism functions in the presence of energy.

· These have the ability of  internal growth and development.

· These have specific receptors (e.g., sense organs to receive external and internal stimuli) and specific effectors

(e.g., muscles and glands to give specific response).

· These have regulatory mechanisms (e.g:, nerves and hormonal in animals, and only hormonal in plants) to

maintain homeostasis inside the body.

· These show adaptations to their environment to increase their chances of survival. 

· These show variations which help in speciation-and evolution.

· These have reproductive powers for continuity of their race.

· These have definite life span (period from birth to death).

· These undergo ageing after adulthood and then natural death.