Life Processes
5.1-What are Life Processes?
The processes in an organism that together perform the maintenance of
the organism’s body are called “Life Processes”
There are 7 characteristics which help us to determine whether an object
is living or not:
-Movement
-Respiration
-Sensitivity
-Growth
-Reproduction
-Excretion
-Nutrition
5.2-Nutrition
The procurement of nutrients into the body of an organism and utilising
them for various biological activities is called “Nutrition”
Organisms utilise energy obtained from nutrition in:
-Movement
-Active Transport
-Synthesis of Organic Compounds
-Cell Division
Nutrition is classified into 2 types:
-Autotrophic
-Heterotrophic
These divisions are further classified, as given in the flowchart:
Nutrition
Autotrophic Nutrition:
Autotrophs make their own food.
-Chemoautotrophs: These organisms use chemical energy sources to make their
own food.
Ex- Nitrifying Bacteria
-Photoautotrophs: These organisms use Sunlight as a primary source of energy
for making their food. For this, a two staged process in which a cell captures
energy from sunlight and utilizes it to make its own food called
“Photosynthesis” is used. It is represented by the reaction:
Chlorophyll is the green pigment which captures sunlight in a plant, and is
the reason for greenness in plants.
The carbohydrates produced are utilized for providing energy for the
plant. The carbohydrates which are not immediately used are stored in the
form of starch as an internal energy reserve in plants.
The two stages in Photosynthesis are:
-Light Dependent Reactions (Light Reactions):
In these processes,
1) The Chloroplasts of plant cells trap Sunlight.
2) The Sunlight is converted to chemical energy.
3) Water gets split into Hydrogen and Oxygen, this Oxygen is released as
bi-product
-Light Independent Reactions (Dark Reactions/Calvin Cycle):
Carbon Dioxide is reduced to Carbohydrates. ATP and NADPH are required
for this process. They are called Dark reactions as no light is required for it.
So, the steps in photosynthesis are:
(i) Absorption of light energy by Chlorophyll
(ii) Conversion of light energy to chemical
energy and splitting of water molecules into
hydrogen and oxygen
(iii) Reduction of carbon dioxide to
carbohydrates
These steps need not take place one after
another immediately. For example, desert
plants and plants in temperate regions take
up carbon dioxide at night and prepare an intermediate which is acted
upon by the energy absorbed by the chlorophyll during the day.
Stomata are tiny pores present on the surface of the leaves. Massive
amounts of gaseous exchange takes place in the leaves through the pores
for the purpose of photosynthesis.
Stomatal pores are present mostly on the bottom side of leaves because
the lower side has less illumination from the sun, leading to less water loss
by transpiration. Stomata are the only epidermal cells with chlorophyll.
Guard cells can change the shape to open or close the stomatal pore, by
using osmosis of water to make them shrunk or flaccid.
Since large amounts of water can also be lost through the stomata, the
plant closes these pores when it does not need Carbon Dioxide for
photosynthesis.
It is important to know that lenticels of stems and root hairs of roots are
also involved in gaseous exchange.
Other nutrients like Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Magnesium and Iron are
taken up from the soil by root hairs.
Heterotrophic Nutrition:
Heterotrophic nutrition is that mode of nutrition where an organism cannot
make its own food from the simple inorganic materials like carbon dioxide and
water and depends upon other organisms for it.
-Holozoic: The organism feeds by ingesting solid organic matter which is then
absorbed into their bodies. Ex: Humans, Animals, Insectivorous Plants.
-Saprophytic: Saprophytes feed on dead and decaying matter. They include
bacteria and fungi which digest the food externally before absorbing the
nutrients.
-Parasitism: Obtain nutrition from living organisms without killing them.
Parasites obtain nutrition by living in/on the bod of the host organism.
Ex: Fleas, lice and tapeworms.
Nutrition in Single Celled Organisms:
Unicellular organisms undergo all life processes in the same cell. They do
not have specific organ systems for different functions. As complexity of
organisms increases, different parts become specialised to perform
different functions.
o Paramecium:
The mode of nutrition in a
paramecium is holozoic
The cell has a definite shape,
and food is taken in at a
specific spot. The food is moved
to this spot by the movement
of cilia which cover the whole
surface of the cell.
o Amoeba:
The mode of nutrition in an amoeba is
holozoic.
The food is ingested using temporary
finger like-projections called
“pseudopodia”, which fuse over the food
particle and forma food vacuole.
Inside the food vacuole, digestive enzymes
are released and complex food is broken
into simpler food substances and are
diffused into the cytoplasm. The remaining undigested material
is moved out of the cell and thrown out.
In the case of single-celled organisms, no specific organs for taking in food,
exchange of gases or removal of wastes may be needed because the entire
surface of the organism is in contact with the environment.
But in multi-cellular organisms, all the cells may not be in direct contact
with the surrounding environment. Thus, simple diffusion will not meet
the requirements of all the cells.
Nutrition in Human Beings: