What is an organism?
Q: What is an organism?
A: An organism is an individual living thing. It can be a plant or animal, and it is part of the biotic, or living, environment.
Q: What are the six basic needs of organisms?
A: Organisms usually need air, water, nutrient (food), energy, a place to live, and homeostatsis (being able to maintain itself) in order to continue their metabolism.
Q: What are the characteristics of living things?
A: Living things have cells, take and use energy, grow and develop, share similar chemicals, sense and respond to change (stimulus), and reproduce.
Q: Are viruses considered living things?
A: There is no agreement as to whether viruses should be regarded as living or not. They are made of protein and nucleic acid like other living things but they exist in two different phases - dormant or active inside another organism's cell - which makes them unique compared to other organisms.
Q: What is a spore?
A: A spore is a distribution phase of certain bacteria, fungi or plants that are inactive until they reach the right situation. They contain all the necessary parts for building a complete organism but remain switched off until needed.
Q: Are there multicellular organisms?
A: Yes there are multicellular organisms which are made up of millions of cells and can often be seen without using a microscope.
Q: Are there unicellular organisms?
A: Yes there are unicellular organisms which consist of just one cell such as bacteria or protozoa like Amoeba and Paramecium which require microscopes to see them due to their small size.
