LIFE PROCESSES : Part - 1

By : N TIWARY
VICE PRINCIPAL
Kendriya Vidyalaya
Sangathan
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REFERENCES
*NCERT TEXT BOOK
*IMAGES FROM : www.google.com
*ONLINE LABS : www.olabs.edu.in
* LEARNING POINTS
*You will learn about
*What are the maintenance processes in living organisms?
In other words
What are Life Processes?
*Why are Molecular Movements needed for life?
*Why do living organisms require the life process – Nutrition?
* Different types of Nutrition in Organisms
*Nutrition in Plants
*Nutrition in Unicellular organisms : Amoeba & Paramoecium
*Nutrition in Human Beings
* Q. How do we tell the difference between
what is alive and what is not alive?

*Clue- 1 :- The organism is showing some

kind of movement or locomotion.
*Ex. If we see a dog running, or a cow
chewing cud, or a man shouting loudly
on the street, we know that these are
living beings.
* Q. What if the dog or the cow or the
man were asleep? We would still think
that they were alive, but how did we
know that?

*Clue – 2 :- We see them breathing,

and we know that they are alive.
*Q. What about plants? How do we
know that they are alive?
*Clue -3 : We see them green, some of us will say.
But what about plants that have leaves of colours
other than green?
*Clue – 4 : They grow over time, so we know that
they are alive.
 *Final Conclusion :-
*In other words, we tend to think of some sort of
movement, either growth-related or not, as
common evidence for being alive.
*But a plant that is not visibly growing is still alive,
and some animals can breathe without visible
movement.
*Movements over very small scales will be invisible
to the naked eye.
*For example : – Movements of molecules,
*So using visible movement as the defining
characteristic of life is not enough.
*Is this invisible Molecular
Movement necessary for life?

*If we ask this question to professional biologists,

they will say yes. In fact, viruses do not show any
molecular movement in them (until they infect
some cell), and that is partly why there is a
controversy about whether they are truly alive or
not.
*Q. Why are molecular movements
needed for life?
*Ans :- We have seen in earlier classes that living
organisms are well-organised structures; they can
have tissues, tissues have cells, cells have smaller
components in them, and so on. Because of the
effects of the environment, this organised, ordered
nature of living structures is very likely to keep
breaking down over time. If order breaks down, the
organism will no longer be alive. So, living creatures
must keep repairing and maintaining their
structures. Since, all these structures are made up
of molecules, they must move molecules around all
the time.
*Q. What are the maintenance
processes in living organisms?
WHAT ARE LIFE PROCESSES?
*The maintenance functions of living organisms
must go on even when they are not doing
anything particular.
*Even when we are just sitting in class,
*even if we are just asleep, this maintenance job
has to go on.
*The processes which together perform this
maintenance job are called life processes.
*Why is the life process such
as Nutrition required in our
body?
*Since these maintenance processes are needed to
prevent damage and break-down, energy is
needed for them. This energy comes from outside
the body of the individual organism. So there
must be a process to transfer a source of energy
from outside the body of the organism, which we
call food, to the inside, a process we commonly
call NUTRITION.
*SOME OTHER LIFE PROCESSES
*Similarly we need other life processes
for keeping our body organisation in
perfect order like :
*RESPIRATION
*TRANSPORTATION OF BODY FLUIDS
*EXCRETION AND OSMOREGULATION
*NERVOUS COORDINATION etc.
 *LIFE PROCESSES

*NUTRITION
 *NUTRITION
*NUTRITION :- The process of procuring food and
its utilization : in order to
* to produce energy for the various life processes,
* to maintain a state of order in our body,
* to grow, develop, synthesise protein and other
substances needed in the body.
*TYPES OF NUTRITION
*Autotrophic Nutrition :-
*PHOTOSYNTHESIS :-
The process by which
green plants prepare
their food (Glucose) by
taking Carbondioxide
gas (from atmosphere),
and water (from soil)
by the help of chloro -
phyll, in the presence
of sunlight.
*SITE OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS
*Important Steps of Photosynthesis
I. LIGHT REACTION :- Light Dependent Phase
(Site : Granum of Chloroplast)
*(i) Absorption of light energy by chlorophyll.
*(ii) Conversion of light energy to chemical energy and
splitting of water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.
I. DARK REACTION :- Light Independent Phase
(Site : Stroma of Chloroplast)
*(iii) Reduction of carbon dioxide to carbohydrates.
 *STOMATA
Stomata are tiny apertures present over the
surface of the leaf.
1. They help in the exchange of gases i.e. O
and 2

CO2 between the plant and its environment.

2. They also regulate the process of transpiration
(loss of water in the form of water vapour)
a) Causes evaporative cooling
b) Creates a suction pull for the ascent of sap
* Q. How is the opening and closing of stomata
regulated?
* Opening and closing of
stomata is regulated by
the help of guard cells:
* Stomatal opening :- When
the guard cells absorb
water due to endo
osmosis, they swell up
(become fully turgid) and
the stomata opens.
* Stomatal closing :- When
the guard cells loose water
due to exo osmosis, they
become flaccid and the
stomata closes.
*HETEROTROPHIC NUTRITION
1. SAPROPHYTIC NUTRITION :-
The mode of nutrition in
which the organisms
release the enzymes over
the dead organic matter
and absorb the already
digested food.
*Ex. Bacteria, Fungi
*( Bread Mould, Agaricus)
 *PARASITIC NUTRITION
*The mode of nutrition in which the organisms called
Parasites absorb the already digested food from the other
living organisms called Hosts without killing them.
*Examples of Animal Parasites:-
Lice, Ticks, Round worm (Ascaris), Tape worm (Taenia),
Filarial worm (Wuchereria), Malarial Parasite (Plasmodium)
Examples of Plant parasites : Amarbel (swarnlata))
 *HOLOZOIC NUTRITION
*The mode of nutrition in which the organisms
take in the food materials inside their body and
then digest and absorb the digested food.
*Ex. Unicellular organisms like Amoeba,
Paramoecium and most of the animals.
*Five Steps of holozoic nutrition are :
*Ingestion
*Digestion
*Absorption
*Assimilation &
*Egestion
*NUTRITION IN AMOEBA :
*Amoeba takes in food using temporary finger-like
extensions/projections of the cell surface which fuse
over the food particle forming a food-vacuole
*Inside the food vacuole, complex substances are broken
down into simpler ones.
*The digested food in the form of simple substances
(micromolecules) duffuse into the cytoplasm.
*These simple substances are utilized by Amoeba to grow
in size.
*The remaining undigested material is moved to the
surface of the cell and thrown out.
*STEPS OF HOLOZOIC NUTRITION
NUTRITION IN AMOEBA :
1. Ingestion :-Amoeba takes in food using
temporary finger-like extensions/projections
of the cell surface which fuse over the food
particle forming a food-vacuole
2. Digestion:- Inside the food vacuole, complex substances are
broken down into simpler ones by the help of enzymes.
3. The digested food in the form of simple substances (micro-
molecules) duffuse into the cytoplasm.
4. These simple substances are utilized by Amoeba to grow in
size.
5. The remaining undigested material is moved to the surface
of the cell and thrown out.
*NUTRITION in AMOEBA
 *NUTRITION in PARAMOECIUM
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 :-
* It takes place by the help of
Human Digestive System
*Alimentary canal and
*Associated glands.
* GLANDS OF HUMAN DIGESTIVE SYSTEM :-
* SALIVARY GLANDS. (3- Pairs)
* PANCREAS.
* LIVER.
* GASTRIC GLANDS.
* INTESTINAL GLANDS
DIGESTION OF FOOD IN BUCCAL CAVITY :-
I.Teeth are used to
mechanically crush the food
into smaller particles
II. Thoroughly mixing of the
crushed Food with the
Saliva performs two
important functions.
* a) Saliva contains Mucin which
makes the food sticky and
slippery for its easy passage in
the alimentary canal.
*b) Salivary amylase
enzyme (Ptyalin) digests
the Starch into Maltose +
Isomaltose
Q. How is the food ingested and chewed inside the
buccal cavity is propelled forward along the human
alimentary canal?

*Ans :- The smooth muscular

wall of the alimentary canal
shows the rhythmic and
coordinated movements all
along the gut and pushes the
food forward to different
organs of digestive system.
This muscular movement is
called Peristaltic Movement.
 *DIGESTION IN STOMACH :-
* Stomach is the J-shaped
muscular sac like structure.
Its wall contains Gastric
glands which secrete
Gastric Juice.
* The gastric juice contains
three things :
* i) HCl
* (ii) Pepsinogen
* (iii) Mucus
* Functions of HCl
1. It activates the pepsinogen
(inactive) into Pepsin (Active)
2. It maintains the acidic pH in
the stomach ( necessary for the
action of enzymes in the gastric
juice)
3. Kills the Germs present in the
Food.
*The Mucus protects the inner
lining (Gastric Mucosa) of the
Stomach from the action of
HCl.
*Pepsin digests proteins into
smaller Peptides.
*DIGESTION IN SMALL INTESTINE :
*Digestion food is
completed in
the small
intestine
because it
receives
secretions from
three sources
i.e. Liver,
Pancreas and
the intestinal
gland
* DIGESTION IN SMALL INTESTINE :
*Role of From Liver :- Liver secretes bile juice which serves
two functions
*It makes the medium of small intestine alkaline which is
essential for the action of pancreatic enzymes over
proteins.
*Bile salts help in the emulsification of fats. i.e. large fat
globules are broken
down into small ones
in order to facilitate
the action of Lipase
enzymes.
*Role of Pancreas
*The pancreas secretes pancreatic juice which contains
enzymes like:
*Trypsin : It digests proteins into peptones
*Amylase : It digests starch into Maltose & Isomaltose
*Lipase : It digests Lipids / Fats into Fatty acids & Glycerol
*Intestinal Glands
*The walls of the small intestine contain
glands which
*secrete Intestinal Juice (Succus entericus).
*The enzymes present in it finally convert
the :
* Proteins to Amino acids,
*complex Carbohydrates into Glucose and
*Fats into Fatty Acids and Glycerol.
*ABSORPTION (of Digested Food):-
*DESIGN OF SMALL INTESTINE FOR THE ABSORPTION OF
DIGESTED FOOD:-
1. The inner lining of the small intestine has numerous
finger-like projections called villi which increase the
surface area for absorption.
2. The villi are richly supplied
with blood vessels which take
the absorbed food to each and
every cell of
the body.
* Difference between Autotrophic & Heterotrophic
Nutrition
 *Lets Recapitulate
*1. What are Life Processes?
*2. Meaning of Nutrition
*3. Different types of Nutrition in Nature
*4. Autotrophic Nutrition : Process of Photosynthesis,
(Raw materials, Site , Structure & Role of Stomata)
*5. Different types of Heterotrophic Nutrition
*a) Nutrition in Unicellular Organisms
*b) Nutrition in Human Beings :
*6. Difference between Autotrophic & heterotrophic
Nutrition
 *THANKS
A Kendriya
Vidyalaya
Sangathan
Presentation