Living Organisms: Functions, Diversity, and Classification

The Relations Function

Living beings perceive information from the external environment and their body. This information consists of stimuli that can be positive or negative. This process occurs in three steps:

• Reception of the stimulus: By specialized structures or bodies.
• Integration of information: Information is processed, and a response is generated through the nervous system.
• Execution of the answer: This is carried out through muscle movements and physiological changes caused by hormones.

Function of Reproduction

• Asexual: Requires only one individual to produce more descendants.
• Sexual: Needs the intervention of two individuals, called germ cells, which are specialized.

Diversity and Classification of Living Things

The variety of creatures inhabiting the Earth and their multitude of habitats is called biodiversity. A biological species is a set of very similar individuals capable of breeding among themselves and originating fertile offspring.

Carl von Linné devised a binomial nomenclature system that assigns each living being two names in Latin: the generic name and the specific name.

The classification of living beings is hierarchical, grouping individuals into taxa. These are grouped into genera, then families, orders, classes, phyla, kingdoms, and finally, domains.

Cause of Diversity

Living beings have evolved from a few ancestors. When several species share a common ancestor, it is called a common ancestral species. Evolution is a gradual process that has occurred over very long periods, during which organisms have adapted to the environments they inhabit.

A fossil is a mineralized remnant of an organism's body, its tracks, or organic activity, or molds left behind after it disappears.

Importance of Biological Diversity

Every living being fulfills a function within its ecosystem. The extinction of a species can produce unpredictable consequences for other organisms and affect biodiversity, including cycles of matter and energy. The cure for most diseases has been found in plants.

Biodiversity is Under Threat

The mass extinction of species is the greatest problem of our civilization. Many species have become extinct due to the direct or indirect action of humans.