NSTSE & NSO 2022 – Class 6 NOT TO BE REDISTRIBUTED – FOR INTERNAL CIRCULATION ONLY

Session 6
The Living Organisms- Characteristics and Habitats

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NSTSE & NSO 2022 – Class 6 NOT TO BE REDISTRIBUTED – FOR INTERNAL CIRCULATION ONLY

Living Things Around Us

 Many things around us are alive, others are not alive but were once alive and
some other things were never alive.

 Things such as furniture, cricket bats, hockey sticks and corks are made up of
wood.

 You can call them non-living things, though the trees from which the wood was
taken to make these things were once living.

Common Features of Living and Non-living Things

 (1) All living and non-living things are made up of matter. Matter occupies space
and has mass. Thus living and non-living things have mass and they occupy
space.

 (ii) Another common feature between living and non-living things is that they are
made up of structural units. A non-living thing like a chalk can be broken into
smaller and smaller particles until you get smallest piece of chalk. A molecule is
the smallest unit of matter. So, a molecule is the structural unit of chalk. Thus,
molecules are the structural units of non-living things. The structural functional
unit of a living organism is the cell. Cell vary in size and shape. There are
different kinds of cells present in the body of a living thing. Cells can be seen
under a microscope.

Characteristics of Living Organisms

 1. Living things are made up of cells

 Cell is the basic structural and functional unit of life. The body of organisms is
made up of cells.

 The organisms which are made up of only one cell are called unicellular and the
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NSTSE & NSO 2022 – Class 6 NOT TO BE REDISTRIBUTED – FOR INTERNAL CIRCULATION ONLY

organisms which are formed of many cells are called multicellular.

 Each cell is organised collection of a living substance called protoplasm.

 Living organisms need food and energy

 All living organisms need food. Food gives them energy to grow, to move and to
perform other life processes that go on inside their bodies.

 Plants make their own food through the process of photosynthesis, hence are
called autotrophs.

 Animals and humans depend on plants and other animals for their food hence,
called heterotrophs

 Living organisms show growth

 Growth is a permanent irreversible change.

 Growth in living organisms is internal

 Growth in multicellular organisms occur due to division of cells.

 In unicellular organisms, growth occurs due to an increase in the amount of

cellular material i.e protoplasm

 In non - living things growth occurs due to addition of material from outside.

 Living things respire

 Breathing is a process by which we take in air rich in oxygen and we give out air
rich in carbon dioxide. When we inhale, the air moves from outside to the inside
of the body. When we breathe out, the air moves from inside of our body to
outside.

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NSTSE & NSO 2022 – Class 6 NOT TO BE REDISTRIBUTED – FOR INTERNAL CIRCULATION ONLY

 The air we breathe in, passes into our lungs. Here, the oxygen in the air is
absorbed into the blood used by the body. Carbon dioxide is produced in our body
as waste. When we breathe out, this carbon dioxide is expelled out of our body,
along with the unused air.

 Breathing is a part of the process called respiration. Respiration is the process by

which the oxygen that is absorbed into our blood combines with food that we eat
and produces energy. The energy produced by respiration helps us to stay alive
and carry out various life processes.

 Thus, respiration is necessary for all living organisms. It is through respiration

that the body finally obtains energy from the food it takes.

 Humans have lungs for respiration. Different animals have different mechanisms
and organs for the exchange of gases. Birds and most mammals like cows, dogs,
etc., have lungs for respiration. Earthworms and leeches breathe through their
skin, insects, (e.g., cockroaches) breathe through holes present on the sides of
their bodies and fish have gills for using oxygen dissolved in water.

 Earthworm breathes through moist skin

 In plants, exchange of gases mainly takes place through tiny pores present on the
surface of their leaves. These tiny pores are called stomata. During respiration,
leaves take in oxygen through stomata and release carbon dioxide.

 In the presence of sunlight and chlorophyll, plants prepare their food by the
process of photosynthesis using CO2 of air and water from soil. During this
process, plants take in CO2 and release O2 through stomata.

 Respiration in plants takes place day and night. During the day, the amount of
oxygen given out by them through photosynthesis is more than the amount of
oxygen used up in respiration. As a result, plants provide oxygen, which sustains
life on Earth.

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NSTSE & NSO 2022 – Class 6 NOT TO BE REDISTRIBUTED – FOR INTERNAL CIRCULATION ONLY


 Living things respond to stimuli

 Living organisms respond to the changes that occur in their surroundings.

Changes in our surroundings that make us respond to them, are called stimuli,
e.g, you quickly withdraw your hand when you happen to touch a hot utensil.
Here, hot utensil is a stimulus and withdrawing of your hand is response.

 Examples of stimuli and their responses :

 If we happen to step on a sharp object like a thorn, while walking barefoot, we

suddenly withdraw our foot. When we suddenly move from a dark place into
bright sunlight, we automatically close our eyes for a moment till our eyes adjust
to the changed bright light situation.

 Wild animals, eg, dog, cat, etc., suddenly become active on seeing the food
placed in front of them.

 A bird, eg., a sparrow flies away when we run towards it.

 Wild animals run away when bright light is flashed on them.

 Cockroaches begin to move to their hiding places if the light in the kitchen is
switched on at night.

 Plants also respond to stimuli. Flowers of some plants bloom only at night. In
some plants, flowers close after sunset. In some plants like Mimosa commonly
known as 'touch-me-not’, leaves close or fold when someone touches them.

 The response of a plant towards sunlight (or any source of light) is referred to as
phototropism. Stem of plants have a tendency to grow towards the light
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NSTSE & NSO 2022 – Class 6 NOT TO BE REDISTRIBUTED – FOR INTERNAL CIRCULATION ONLY

(Positively phototropic) whereas the roots of plants have a tendency to grow away
from the light (Negatively phototropic).

 Roots have a tendency to grow towards the Earth/gravity (positively geotropic)

and stems tend to grow away from it (negatively geotropic). The response of roots
and stem towards and against the Earth is called geotropism.

 Living things excrete

 There are several processes going on inside our body, such as digestion,
respiration, etc. During these processes some waste products are produced.

 These wastes are removed from our body in the form of urine, sweat and exhaled
air (when we breathe out).

 This process of getting rid of waste substances by the living organisms is referred
to as excretion. Excretion is a common characteristic of all living organisms.

 Plants also excrete, however the mechanisms of excretion in plants are a little
different. Some harmful or poisonous materials get produced in plants as wastes.
Some plants find it possible to store the waste products within their parts in a way
that they do not harm them. Some plants remove waste products as secretions.

 Plants produce oxygen (photosynthesis), carbon dioxide (respiration) and

substances like gum, resin, latex,as waste products

 Living organisms reproduce their own kind

 Reproduction is the process by which living organisms produce their own kind.
Reproduction takes place in different ways in different organisms. Many animals
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NSTSE & NSO 2022 – Class 6 NOT TO BE REDISTRIBUTED – FOR INTERNAL CIRCULATION ONLY

lay eggs, which upon hatching give rise to young ones, eg, birds, crocodiles,
insects, frogs, etc.

 The other animals give birth to young ones, e.g., mammals such as cow, buffalo,
lion, horse, cat, tiger, etc. Humans also give birth to young ones

 Reproduction is a very important characteristic of living organisms because it is

only through this process that more living organisms of a kind are produced
leading to huge population which ensures the existence of species even if the
individuals die.

 Reproduction in plants also occurs in different ways. In flowering plants, flowers

are the main reproductive organs. From flowers, fruits. containing seeds are
formed, seeds on germination, give rise to new plants.

 Many plants also reproduce through parts other than seeds eg, a piece of potato
with a bud grows into a new plant when sown in soil.

 Rose, jasmine, mint and sugarcane are propagated by stem cuttings.

 Ginger, potato and onion propagate through underground stem.

 New plantlets arise from buds present on the leaves of Bryophyllum plant, etc.

 Living things move

 All living organisms show movement. The change in the position of any body
part is called movement whereas the movement of a whole organism from one
place to another is called locomotion.

 Plants do not move from one place to another. However, plants show certain
movements in response to stimuli, e.g., when we touch the leaves of Mimosa
plant (Touch- me-not) the leaves droop down; sunflower turns towards the Sun,
opening and closing of flowers in response to light, etc.

 These plant movements are called tropic movements or tropism

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NSTSE & NSO 2022 – Class 6 NOT TO BE REDISTRIBUTED – FOR INTERNAL CIRCULATION ONLY

Important Points

 Whale and dolphin are mammals and use their lungs to respire. However, they
have to come to the surface of water of the ocean to breathe. Sometimes they lie
right below the surface of water, with just a part of their backs sticking out.

 Whales do not have noses instead they have a hole called a blowhole on top of
their heads. Sometimes when a whale breathes air out of its blowhole, it shows up
as a spray or mist-called a spout that can be seen from several miles away,
Blowholes are surrounded by muscles that keep the hole closed when the whale
or dolphin is under water and open it when the animal is at the surface and needs
to breathe.

 In fact, some of the animals have two blowholes next to each other and others
have only one. Pilot whales and dolphins have one blowhole, humpbacks whales,
mink whales and right whales have two.

 Most flowers open only once, as they grow from a bud to a full-blown blossom,
Some open during the day and close at night, some at varying times of the day. In
harsh environments, this adaptation can help flowers conserve energy and
improve the health of the plant as a whole.

 Certain flowers, tend to close after the sun goes down.

 Plants that tuck themselves in for bedtime exhibit a natural behavior known as
nyctinasty. In cool air and darkness, the bottom-most petals of certain flowers
grow at a faster rate than the upper-most petals, forcing the flowers to shut.

 All organisms, whether small or large start their life as a single cell, called zygote.