{"id":12898,"date":"2014-02-04T19:33:12","date_gmt":"2014-02-04T19:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/?page_id=12898"},"modified":"2026-03-28T11:15:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T16:15:29","slug":"basic-characteristics-of-organisms","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/basic-characteristics-of-organisms\/","title":{"rendered":"Basic Characteristics of Organisms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t<div id=\"mmDeferVideoEncompass_U55I6gQ8st0\" style=\"position: relative;\">\n\t\t\t<picture>\n\t\t\t\t<source srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/circle-play-duotone.webp\" type=\"image\/webp\">\n\t\t\t\t<source srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/circle-play-duotone.png\" type=\"image\/jpeg\"> \n\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\" id=\"videoThumbnailImage_U55I6gQ8st0\" data-source-videoID=\"U55I6gQ8st0\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/circle-play-duotone.png\" alt=\"Basic Characteristics of Organisms Video\" height=\"464\" width=\"825\" class=\"size-full\" data-matomo-title = \"Basic Characteristics of Organisms\">\n\t\t\t<\/picture>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<style>img#videoThumbnailImage_U55I6gQ8st0:hover {cursor:pointer;} img#videoThumbnailImage_U55I6gQ8st0 {background-size:contain;background-image:url(\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/575-basic-characteristics-of-organisms-1.webp\");}<\/style>\n\t\t\t<script defer>\n\t\t\t  jQuery(\"img#videoThumbnailImage_U55I6gQ8st0\").click(function() {\n\t\t\t\tlet videoId = jQuery(this).attr(\"data-source-videoID\");\n\t\t\t\tlet helpTag = '<div id=\"mmDeferVideoYTMessage_U55I6gQ8st0\" style=\"display: none;position: absolute;top: -24px;width: 100%;text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-style: italic;font-size: small;border-top: 1px solid #fc0;\">Having trouble? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v='+videoId+'\" target=\"_blank\">Click here to watch on YouTube.<\/a><\/span><\/div>';\n\t\t\t\tlet tag = document.createElement(\"iframe\");\n\t\t\t\ttag.id = \"yt\" + videoId;\n\t\t\t\ttag.src = \"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/\" + videoId + \"?autoplay=1&controls=1&wmode=opaque&rel=0&egm=0&iv_load_policy=3&hd=0&enablejsapi=1\";\n\t\t\t\ttag.frameborder = 0;\n\t\t\t\ttag.allow = \"autoplay; fullscreen\";\n\t\t\t\ttag.width = this.width;\n\t\t\t\ttag.height = this.height;\n\t\t\t\ttag.setAttribute(\"data-matomo-title\",\"Basic Characteristics of Organisms\");\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(\"div#mmDeferVideoEncompass_U55I6gQ8st0\").html(tag);\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(\"div#mmDeferVideoEncompass_U55I6gQ8st0\").prepend(helpTag);\n\t\t\t\tsetTimeout(function(){jQuery(\"div#mmDeferVideoYTMessage_U55I6gQ8st0\").css(\"display\", \"block\");}, 2000);\n\t\t\t  });\n\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t\n<p><script>\nfunction KCs_Function() {\n  var x = document.getElementById(\"KCs\");\n  if (x.style.display === \"none\") {\n    x.style.display = \"block\";\n  } else {\n    x.style.display = \"none\";\n  }\n}\n<\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"moc-toc hide-on-desktop hide-on-tablet\">\n<div><button onclick=\"KCs_Function()\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/toc2.svg\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"show or hide table of contents\"><\/button><\/p>\n<p>On this page<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<nav id=\"KCs\" style=\"display:none;\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"toc-h2\"><a href=\"#What_is_an_Organism\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">What is an Organism?<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"toc-h2\"><a href=\"#Organism_Characteristics\" class=\"smooth-scroll\">Organism Characteristics<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"accordion\"><input id=\"transcript\" type=\"checkbox\" class=\"spoiler_button\" \/><label for=\"transcript\">Transcript<\/label>\n<div class=\"spoiler\" id=\"transcript-spoiler\">\n<p>Hey, guys! Welcome to this Mometrix video on the basic characteristics of an organism.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"What_is_an_Organism\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>What is an Organism?<\/h2>\n<p>\nBefore we dive in too deep, let\u2019s define an organism. Organism comes from the Greek word <em>organon<\/em>, which literally means \u201cinstrument.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>In short, an organism is anything that is living, senses, experiences growth, reproduces, and works to regulate internal conditions.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"Organism_Characteristics\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Organism Characteristics<\/h2>\n<p>\nBut like I said, that is in short. Let\u2019s go a little deeper and look at the seven characteristics of a living organism.<\/p>\n<h3><span id=\"Nourishment\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Nourishment<\/h3>\n<p>\nAll living things are dependent on external resources to grow, repair, and to maintain current internal processes. So, an organism must take in nutrients to obtain the energy it needs to maintain all of its functions.<\/p>\n<h3><span id=\"Respiration\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Respiration<\/h3>\n<p>\nNow, we need to be sure not to confuse respiration with breathing. Breathing is the more physical process where we inhale oxygen, and exhale carbon dioxide; respiration is a more chemical process, however, breathing is very important for respiration to take place.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"ylist\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/aerobic-respiration\/\">Respiration<\/a> is when oxygen and glucose combine to produce  carbon dioxide, water, and ATP. Something that is interesting to note is that autotrophs (or any organism that is <a class=\"ylist\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/photosynthesis\/\">photosynthesizing<\/a>) are dependent on heterotrophs (organisms that are not photosynthesizing, like humans), and vice versa.<\/p>\n<h3><span id=\"Motion\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Motion<\/h3>\n<p>\nEvery living thing moves. This may seem like an obvious observation with organisms like humans, animals, insects, but plants move as well; and I\u2019m not talking about them being moved by the wind, they actually move on their own. <\/p>\n<p>Leaves turn to face the sun, flowers open and close, and climbing plants literally reach out until they can grab onto something.<\/p>\n<h3><span id=\"Expel\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Expel<\/h3>\n<p>\nWith all these nutrients coming in and being used for energy the waste has to go somewhere\u2014out. In fact, the waste from the chemical reactions, that go on within the organism, can actually be toxic to the organism so it must be excreted or expelled from the organism.<\/p>\n<p>All organisms excrete or expel waste.<\/p>\n<h3><span id=\"Grow\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Grow<\/h3>\n<p>\nAll living organisms grow. Growth in an organism can be defined as the constant increase of size and the number of cells.<\/p>\n<h3><span id=\"Reproduce\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Reproduce<\/h3>\n<p>\nEvery organism has the capability to produce offspring. Living things multiply.<\/p>\n<h3><span id=\"Sensing\" class=\"m-toc-anchor\"><\/span>Sensing<\/h3>\n<p>\nSensing refers to the ability that every organism has, and that is to sense and to react to stimuli. Stimuli include things like chemicals, water, gravity, light, and temperature.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>\nI hope that this video over the basic characteristics of an organism was helpful to you. If you enjoyed it then be sure to give us a thumbs up, and subscribe to our channel for further videos.<\/p>\n<p>See you guys next time!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"home-buttons\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/biology\/\">Return to Biology Videos<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Return to Biology Videos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95482,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-12898","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"page_category-organisms-biology-videos","7":"page_type-video","8":"subject_matter-science"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12898"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":280877,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12898\/revisions\/280877"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mometrix.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}