MRS C GREN

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Biology is the Study of Living Things

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Living or Non-Living?

Biology is the study of living things. An individual living thing is called an organism. All living organisms carry out these seven life processes: movement, respiration, sensitivity, growth, reproduction, excretion and nutrition. They can be remembered using the first letter for each, which spells 'MRS GREN'.

Life Processes that Living Things Do

These are the seven life processes that living things do.

Movement - Organisms can move all or parts of itself to find such things as water, food, light and mates.
Respiration - Organisms can 'burn up' food inside their cells to release the energy needed to run the other life processes. Respiration can happen with or without oxygen.
Sensitivity - Organisms can detect changes in their environment and are able to respond to them.
Growth - Organisms can make more cells to get bigger in size over time or replace injured cells.
Reproduction - Organisms are able to produce offspring and keep the species going.
Excretion - Organisms can excrete (get rid of) waste products, e.g. trees lose leaves, animals produce urine and sweat.
Nutrition - Organisms either produce (plants) or find (animals) food to supply energy and raw materials for growth.

Some texts use MRS C GREN and include a "C" which stands for "Cells." But cells are not a life process; cells are the building blocks of all living organisms and play a role in all seven life processs.

We can investigate whether something carries out the seven life processes and so decide if it is living or non-living.

Non-living things, like fire, can have some of these characteristics, but never all of them.
Dead organisms no longer carry out any of these processes, but they did when they were alive.
Some organisms are considered to be alive, even if they don't carry out all the processes. For example, a worker bee does not reproduce but is considered alive because it is part of a complex relationship where other bees carry out reproduction for the hive.

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