Living or Non-Living? That is the Question!

We need to catch up on a few blog entries from last week! The homework assignment for last Monday was to choose an ecosystem near or around your home and to draw the components of that ecosystem (abiotic and biotic factors). However, in order to accomplish this, one must have an understanding of what makes a living thing, well......... living! We learned that every living thing is made up of cells, and cells help to carry out 7 main life processes which are listed below. To help us remember the 7 life processes - we used a mnemonic device "Mrs. Gern" who you see in the picture below!

Movement
Reproduction
Sensitivity
Growth
Excretion
Respiration
Nutrition

We also looked at a frog, car, and fire to see if they carried out all 7 life processes. There was much debate over whether fire was considered a living thing - but in the end, we realized that fire is not made up of cells, nor does it meet every one of the 7 life processes.


Once we had a better understanding of what makes a living thing living.... it was much easier to draw and label the abiotic factors and biotic factors of an ecosystem!

Note: This activity was completed last Monday, prior to the Ecology Concept Map and Cats in Borneo!