LIFE PROCESSES

By Shubham Pathak
 WHAT ARE LIFE PROCESSES?

The basic function performed by living

organisms to maintain their life on this
earth are called life processes.
 NUTRITION
The process of taking food by an organism and
its utilization by body for performing various
other life processes.

Modes of Nutrition

Autotrophic Heterotrophic
 Autotrophic Nutrition :
The mode of nutrition in which
organisms synthesis their own food
from simple inorganic substances like
carbon dioxide and water in the
presence of sunlight is called as
Autotrophic .

For e.g. Plants and Blue-green algae.

NUTRITION IN PLANTS
 PHOTOSYNTHESIS IN PLANTS

It is a complex process by which green plants

synthesize their own food.

Some of it
Raw Materials : is used
1. Carbon Dioxide and some
2. Water is stored
in form of
End Products: starch.
1. Glucose
(carbohydrates)
2. Oxygen
 Site of Photosynthesis : Chloroplasts

1. Cells in green parts of the plants have organelles

called as Chloroplasts. They are the site of
Photosynthesis.

2. These Chloroplasts contain a green pigment called

as Chlorophyll.

3. Chlorophyll capture falling sunlight on it which is

utilised during Photosynthesis.
Cross-section of a leaf
 Events in Photosynthesis

Absorption Conversion Reduction

Absorption : of light energy by Chlorophyll.

Conversion : of light energy into chemical energy

and splitting of water molecules into Hydrogen and
Oxygen. .

Reduction: of Carbon Dioxide to carbohydrates.

 These three steps need not take place one after
the other immediately. Plants modify the timings
according to their environmental conditions.

For e.g. Desert plants (Xerophytic mostly) take up

carbon dioxide at night and then they prepare an
intermediate compound which gets absorbed by
chlorophyll during the day for photosynthesis.
Opening and Closing of
Stomata
● Stoma (singular)/ Stomata (plural)

● They are tiny openings or pores present on

the surface of the leaves.

● They are surrounded by guard cells which

helps in closing and opening of stomata.

● They allow the gases to enter and exit the

plant (leaf).

● Stomata are surrounded by bean shaped

cells that frame the stomatal opening.
These cells are known as Guard Cells and
they contain chloroplasts.
Stomata has two main functions:

1. Gaseous exchange i.e. intake of carbon

dioxide and release of oxygen.

2. Process of transpiration in plants, i.e.,

that is loss of excess water from the
aerial parts of the plant.
 Open: A plant cells becomes turgid (high
water pressure) due to high sugar content in
it. This causes the guard cells to swell up and
the stomatal pore to open.

Closed: When guard cell loses water (shrinks).

The stomatal pore closes.
Heterotrophic Nutrition
 HETEROTROPHIC NUTRITION

Mode of nutrition in which an organism

cannot make its own food and depends
on other organisms for its food.
Parasitic Saprophytic Holozoic

Cuscuta Mushrooms Humans

Cuscuta
 Types of Heterotrophic Nutrition

Saprotrophic Nutrition: Organism

obtains its food from decaying organic
matter of dead plants, animals and rotten
bread etc.

Parasitic Nutrition: Organism derives its

food from the body of another living
organism without killing it. (Roundworms,
Plasmodium, etc)

Holozoic Nutrition: Organism takes

the complex organic food material into
its body by the process of ingestion,
the ingested food is digested and then
absorbed into the body cells of the
organism. (animals)
Nutrition in Amoeba
Ingestion: With the help of pseudopodia, Amoeba
encircles the food and engulfs it forming a food
vacuole. This process is known as phagocytosis.

Digestion: Food vacuoles are transported deeper

into the cell and with the help of the digestive
enzymes, the large insoluble particles are broken
down to the simplest molecules.
Absorption: Nutrients from the digested food
material are absorbed into the cell’s cytoplasm by
leaving behind the undigested particles. This process
is called diffusion.

Assimilation: It is a process of obtaining energy

from the absorbed food molecules.

Egestion: Egestion is the process of excretion of

undigested food material. In amoeba, this process is
carried out by rupturing the cell membrane to
remove the undigested food material from its body.
NUTRITION IN AMOEBA
NUTRITION IN PARAMECIUM

This is also a
unicellular
organism, the cell
has a definite
shape and food is
taken in at a
specific spot. Food
is moved to this
spot by the
movement of cilia
which cover the
entire surface of
the cell.
Nutrition in Human Beings
In human beings, the process of
nutrition is not as simple as that
in Amoeba. Humans have an
entire (complex) system known as
digestive system for it.
 Digestion is a Catabolic process.

Human digestive
system has:

1. Alimentary
canal
2. Digestive
Glands
 1. Mouth
Digestion first takes place in- Mouth. Food enters into
body through mouth.

Causal factors-

1. Teeth: These are hard structures and

present on both upper and lower jaw.
They help in the crushing of food
(mastication) through grinding, cutting
and chewing of food.
● Dental caries or tooth decay causes gradual softening of
enamel and dentine.

● Begins when bacteria acting on sugars produce acids that

softens or demineralised the enamel.

● Masses of bacterial cells together with food particles stick

to the teeth to form dental plaque.

● Saliva cannot reach the tooth surface to neutralise the acid

as plaque covers the teeth. Brushing the teeth after eating
removes the plaque before the bacteria produce acids.

● If untreated, microorganisms may invade the pulp, causing

inflammation and infection.
2. Tongue : Very muscular sensory organ
which is present at the floor of human
buccal cavity. It has taste buds. It also helps
in mixing of food and cleaning of teeth.

Pharynx:

Small funnel shaped chamber located just

behind the oral cavity. It links oesophagus
(food pipe) and trachea (windpipe).
Oesophagus:
It is a thin but long muscular tube like structure
that leads the food from pharynx to stomach.

Stomach:
J-shaped bag like part of the alimentary canal
which stores the food and does it partial
digestion. Its muscular walls help in the mixing
of the food with stomach’s digestive juices. It
also has sphincter (round) muscles at its end
which helps in the release of food to next level
of digestion (small intestine).
Small intestine:

Longest part of alimentary

canal. It is very coiled in a
small space (hence, the
naem). Herbivores have a
longer small intestine to
facilitate cellulose
digestion. This is the main
site of digestion. Small
Intestine also has tiny
finger like projections called
as Villi that increases its
surface area and helps in
absorption of food as well.

It is divided into three parts:

the duodenum, jejunum and
ileum
Herbivores have a longer small intestine to
facilitate cellulose digestion. Carnivores have
shorter small intestine as meat gets digested
easily.
Large Intestine:
It is wider than small intestine (hence, the
name). It has three parts:
1. Caecum
2. Colon
3. Rectum

Appendix (a vestigial organ) is a part of large

intestine.

Rectum:
It is the last chamber that stores fecal matter
(digested food) temporarily.

Anus:
It is the end point to our alimentary canal. It
helps in the exit of undigested food from our
body. They are aided by anal sphincter
(external and internal).
 Salivary Gland Salivary Amylase

Digestive Glands
HCL and Pepsin and
Gastric Glands
Mucus

Liver Bile

Intestinal glands Intestinal Juices

Pancreas Pancreatic Juices

 STEPS OF NUTRITION IN HUMAN BEINGS
1

Ingestion: It happens in Human Mouth.

Digestion: Digestion first begins in the mouth

itself.

Teeth- cut the food in small pieces,

chew and grind it. They help in physical
digestion.
Salivary glands: Produce saliva. It is a watery liquid
so it wets the food in our mouth. The wetted food
can be swallowed more easily.
The human saliva contains an enzyme called
salivary amylase which digests the starch present in
food into sugar.
 Oesophagus carries food to the stomach.

How does this happens?

The walls of the food pipe start contraction and

expansion movements. This is known as peristaltic
movement.

This peristaltic movement of food pipe helps in the

movement of digested food (bolus) into the stomach.
 Digestion in STOMACH:
The gastric juice contains 3 substances:
Hydrochloric acid, the enzyme pepsin &
mucus.

Functions of HCL:
It makes the medium acidic (low pH) so
that the enzyme pepsin can digest
protein properly.

It also kill bacterias present in food (if

any) which may enter the stomach with
food.
Protein digestion in Stomach:

1. In acidic medium facilitates the

functioning of enzyme pepsin which does
the digestion of proteins

Mucus helps to protect the stomach wall from

its own secretions of HCL. If mucus is not
secreted, HCL will cause the erosion of inner
lining of stomach leading to formation of
ulcers in stomach.

The partially digested food then goes from

stomach into small intestine.
 Digestion in Small Intestine

The small intestine receives the secretion of two

glands:

1. Liver: Secretes bile. It is a greenish yellow

liquid made in liver
But it is stored in the gall bladder.
Bile is actually very alkaline & contains salts which
help to emulsify or break the fats present in the
food.

Functions of Bile:

a. Makes the acidic food alkaline so that

pancreatic bile enzymes can act on it.

b. Also breaks the fats present in the food into

small globules.
 Digestion in Small Intestine

Pancreas: Large gland which lies parallel

to and beneath the stomach.

Pancreatic juice which contains digestive

enzymes like:

1. Pancreatic amylase (breaks down

starch)
2. Trypsin (breaks down proteins)
3. Lipase (digestion of emulsified fats)
 Digestion:

➔ The walls of small intestine contains glands

which secrete intestinal juice.

The intestinal juice contains a number of

enzymes which complete the digestion of:

1. Complex carbohydrates into glucose

2. Proteins into amino acids
3. Fats into fatty acids and glycerol.
3 STEPS OF NUTRITION IN HUMAN BEINGS

Absorption: Small Intestine has villi for it.

The small intestine is the main region for

the absorption of digested food.

The villi are richly supplied with blood

vessels which take the absorbed food to
each and every cell of the body, where it is
utilised for obtaining energy, building up
new tissues and the repair of old tissues.
 Assimilation: The blood carries digested
and dissolved food to all the parts of the
body where it becomes assimilated as a part
of the cells.

The energy is then released by the oxidation

of assimilation food in the cells during
respiration.
5

Egestion:
Unabsorbed food is sent into the large intestine
where its wall absorbs more water from this
material, due to which undigested part becomes
almost solid.

The final exitit of this waste material is regulated

by the anal sphincter.
 Homework!
Function of:
1. Tongue
2. Appendix