IMPORTANT TERMS

Living Things - Those things which need food, water and air for their survival are called living things.  Example – human, fish, bird, snail, ant, insect etc.

Non-living Things - Those things which do not need food, water and air for their survival are called living things. Example- table, chair, bed, salt, sand, pencil etc.

Organism - All the living things are called organism. Thus plants and animals are organism.

Biology - Study of living things or organism is called biology.

Growth - Growth means increase in size. The young ones of all living thing grow and become bigger in size with a passage of time.

Locomotion - Locomotion is the movement of animal from one place to another place. Example - A bird moves when it flies in the sky.

Stimuli - Stimulus is a change that produces an immediate action (response) in an organism.

Respiration - The process by which living things utilize oxygen, to release energy stored in the food that they eat, is called respiration.

Breathing - Breathing is a part of respiration process in which we inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide gas.

Excretion - Living things remove waste from their body by the process of excretion.

Reproduction- The process by which living organism produce new members of their species is called reproduction.

Life span - The time period for which living things generally remains alive is called its life span. Example - life span of bacteria is 20 minutes.        

Habitat - Habitat is the natural territory in which an animal, plant or organism lives.

Biotic component - The living things in a habitat are its biotic components or factor.

Abiotic component - The non- living things in a habitat are its abiotic factor. Example - air, light, water, rock and temperature.

Adaptation - Adaptation is the process of change by which an organism becomes better suited to its specific environment.

Acclimatization - The process of becoming accustomed to a different environment over short periods is called acclimatization.

 

 

 

Characteristic of living things

• Livings things always grow, their growth is permanent and irreversible.
• Living things need food and water for their growth.
• Living things can reproduce by giving birth
• Living things respire to survive. Respiration is very important process in which oxygen combines with food stored by organism, to release energy.

 

Characteristic of living things

• Non-Livings things don’t grow.
• Non-Living things don’t need food and water for their growth.
• Non-Living things cannot reproduce.
• Non-Living things don’t respire to survive.

 

Food

Food is the substance that provides material for growth and energy to carry out various life process taking place inside the living things.

 

Growth

 The young ones of all the living things (plants and animal) grow and become bigger in size with the passing of time.

 

Movement

• All the living things move by themselves (without any external help). The animal and plants move in different ways.
• Animals can move from one place to another or they can move their body parts.
• The plants are fixed at a place in the soil, so they cannot move like animal from place to place but their body parts such as leaves, flowers, shoots and roots move towards the stimulus such as sunlight, water or gravity.

 

Response to stimuli

The changes in surroundings to which living things respond are called stimuli.

• Mimosa plant which is commonly known as ‘sensitive’ plant or ‘touch me not’ plant.
• Dandelion and Moonflower opens the petals in bright light during the daytime.
• Dandelion and Moonflower closes the petals at dusk or night when it gets dark.

Biological process

Respiration

• The chemical process in which food taken by an organism combines with oxygen to release energy is called respiration.
• Breathing is a part of respiration. The purpose of breathing-in air is to provide oxygen to our body for carrying out respiration.
• All living things (plants and animals) undergo respiration to obtain energy from stored food.

Organism with their respiratory organ

Organism	Respiratory Organ
Earthworm	Skin
Fish	Gills
Dolphins	Blowholes
Frog	Skin & lungs
Plants	Stomata
Human	Lungs
Insects	Spiracles

 

Excretion

• Living things remove waste from their body by the process of excretion.

 

Reproduction

• The process by which living organism produce new members of their species is called reproduction.

 

Reproduction in Animal

Animals	Modes of reproduction
Human Being	Young ones
Dogs	Young ones
Cats	Young ones
Fish	Eggs
Birds	Eggs

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reproduction in Plants

Mode of reproduction	Plants
Reproduction through seed	Gram
	Paddy
	Corn
	Wheat
Reproduction through Tubers	Potato
Reproduction through Cutting	Rose
	Henna
	Grapes
	Cactus

 

Life cycle

All animal, plants and other living creature have a cycle of growth and development i.e. from a small baby to adult to old age and finally death; this is known as life cycle.

 

Life span

The time period for which living things generally remains alive is called its life span. Example - life span of bacteria is 20 minutes.

 

Animals	Life span
Giant Tortoise	150 yrs.
Goat	15 yrs.
Bacteria	20 min.
Dog	10- 22 yrs.

 

 Habitat

• The place or surroundings where a plant or animal lives is called it habitat.
• Environment is the natural world of a particular geographical area, which is affected by a living being's activity.

 

Types of habitat

Desert Habitat - A waterless area of land covered with sand and having little or no vegetation plants, etc. is called as desert.

Mountain regions - A very high hill is called mountain.

Forest or Grassland habitat - A large area of land covered mainly with trees and plants is called a forest.

Aquatic habitat - The habitat having water all around are called aquatic habitats like Oceans, Ponds, Lakes and rivers.

Aquatic plants - The plants which grow in water are called aquatic plants.

Type of aquatic plants

• Some aquatic plants float on the surface of water. Example- water-lettuce and water hyacinth.
• Some aquatic plants are partly submerged in water. Example- Water-lily and lotus.
• Some aquatic plants are completely submerged in water. Example- Hydrilla and Vallisneria.

Adaptations - Adaptation is the process of change by which an organism adapts to its environment.

• A hawk has adapted itself with sharp claws and hooked beak to catch and tear the prey.
• Camouflage is the ability of an organism to blend in with its surroundings. Example - Chameleon changes its body color with respect to surroundings for its protection.
• The physiological adaptation of an animal or plant to changes in climate or environment, such as light, temperature or altitude is known as acclimatization.

 

Interesting facts

• Polar bears are the largest carnivore that live on Earth.
• Polar bears use sea ice to hunt seals.
• Male lions defend the pride’s territory whereas female lions do most of the hunting.
• A desert lizard called ‘Thorny devil’ drinks water through its skin.
• The sand grouse is a bird which can carry water in its feathers.