Senior High School

Earth and Life Science

Quarter 2 - Module 2
Unifying Themes of Life

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 What I Need To Know
This module is designed to deepen your knowledge about Unifying Themes of Life.

Specifically, after going through this module, you are expected to:
1. describe how unifying themes (e.g. structure and function, evolution and ecosystems) in the
study of life show connections among living things and how they interact with each other and
with their environment; (S11/12LT-IIa-3)

Earth and Life Science

Module 2 Lesson 1 Unifying Themes of Life

What’s In
In the past lesson, you learned that biology is the study of living things (the science of life).
Living comes with an astounding variety of shapes and forms, and biologists study life in many
different ways. Which led us to the question “What is life?” or “what makes something alive?”

What’s New
In this lesson, you will learn about the unifying themes of life. As we know, all known
organisms shares certain general properties. To a large degree, these properties define what we
meant by life. Identify the different unifying themes of life by re-arranging the letters below.

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 What is It
All organisms share common characteristics that guide us in defining what we mean by life.
The unifying themes of life on the other hand refers to all the basic ideas that apply to all organisms. It
give us an idea of how each of these themes contributes to the connection and interaction of living
organisms and their environment.

Regulation and Homeostasis - One unique characteristic of living things is the ability to use energy
and matter to ensure survival. Plants obtain energy from sunlight by means of photosynthesis while
humans and animals released energy from food through cellular respiration. They are also capable of
maintaining body’s internal environment through homeostasis.

Energy Processing/ Acquisition and use of energy – (Metabolism) is the set of life-sustaining
chemical processes that enables organisms transform the chemical energy stored in molecules into
energy that can be used for cellular processes.

Growth and Development - is the increase in size and volume by converting food to become a part
of the body cells.
 Intussusception – growth from within the cells exhibited by living things.
 Accretion – growth by external addition of substances exhibited by nonliving things

Response to the environment / Ability to respond to stimuli - Organisms change their behavior in
response to changes in the surrounding environment. Responses occur in definite patterns and make
up the behavior of an organism.

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Evolutionary adaptation/ evolution and adaptation - Certain responsive processes allow organisms
to react to changes in their surroundings. These responses include movement (motility), irritability,
individual adaptation, and evolution.
 Motility is movement of animals from one place to another (locomotion)
 Irritability is the ability of an organism to respond appropriately against a stimulus or external
factors such as light, sound, temperature, pressure, food sources, or presence chemical
substances.
 Adaptation is the ability of an organism to adjust to changes in the environment which happens
more slowly than responding to stimulus. Ex. Camouflage

Development and Reproduction - All living things undergo defined stages in their life cycle called
development which starts with birth and ends in death. Living things have also ways of making sure
that their species survive through reproduction (sexual or asexual) which is a process by which
genetic information is passed on from one generation to another. This way, the characteristics of
parents are transmitted from parents to offspring (heredity).

High degree of organization - Living things exhibit a high degree of organization from molecular to
cellular level. For multicellular organisms such as plants and animals, the level of organization is more
complex. Group of cells from tissues and different tissues form organs, organs comprise organ
systems of an organism

Diversity and Unity - The organism interacts with other organisms of the same kind known as
population, while populations sharing their habitat compose a community. The communities exist in an
environment affected by both living and nonliving components known as ecosystem.

What’s More
Take a look at the pictures below and identify what characteristic of life or unifying
theme is illustrated/ being portrayed in each photo.

Image No.1 a close-up Image No. 2 A pygmy seahorse

picture of a camouflaging itself
sunflower with with its environment
the parts of the
flower

Image No. 3 A jackrabbit’s Image No. 4 A butterfly obtaining

ears opening fuel in the form of
wide, vividly nectar from flowers.
showing its
blood vessels

Image No. 5 A sprouting seed Image No. 6 A damselfly landing

on a venus flytrap,
with the flytrap
rapidly closing its
trap

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 Image No. 7 A mother giraffe Image No. 8 A garden showing
with its young lush vegetation and
calf standing diverse animals
beside her

What I Have Learned

Identify which unifying theme of life is being referred to by each situation. Write your answer
on the space after each item.

1. The eggs of Aedes aegypti or the mosquito famous for carrying dengue that caused major
outbreaks
nationwide, were able to survive with scarce or no rainwater which is essential to their life cycle.

2. About twelve to twenty four hours after taking a high carbohydrate meal, a person’s blood sugar
level
increases. Afterwards, the blood sugar will be maintained within a fairly narrow range despite
uneven
intake of sugar in between meals.

3. Venus flytrap, a carnivorous plant, gets ready to snap close as an insect triggers its hair cells within
twenty seconds of the first strike.

4. A kingfisher has long beaks as opposed to the big and sturdy beaks of the Philippine hornbill - its
close relative.

5. A farmer soaks “palay” (rice) seeds in water to germinate them into seedlings, which later grow to
be mature palay plants that produce rice grains.

What I Can Do
Answer the following question briefly.

Suppose you found an object that looks like a dead twig, you wonder if it may be a stick insect.
How could you determine if it is a living thing?

References
 Philippine Normal Universiy. 2016. Teaching Guide for Senior High School Earth and Life
Science. Quezon City: Commision on Higher Education.

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