Characteristics of living organismsSpec 1.1
In short
Living organisms are things that show all eight characteristics of life: nutrition, respiration, excretion, response to surroundings, movement, control of internal conditions, reproduction, and growth and development. Plants and animals show them in different ways. For example, a plant moves by growing towards light and makes its own food by photosynthesis, while an animal eats.
All living organisms share the eight characteristics below, although they show them in different ways.
| Characteristic | What it means |
|---|---|
| Nutrition | Organisms require nutrition: they take in materials for energy, growth and repair. |
| Respiration | Organisms respire: they release energy from food in their living cells. |
| Excretion | Organisms excrete their waste: they remove the waste products of their chemical reactions. |
| Response | Organisms respond to their surroundings: they detect changes (stimuli) and react to them. |
| Movement | Organisms move: they change position or move parts of their body. |
| Control of internal conditions | Organisms control their internal conditions, keeping them steady (for example temperature and water content). |
| Reproduction | Organisms reproduce: they produce new individuals of the same kind. |
| Growth and development | Organisms grow and develop: they increase in size and change over time. |
Plants and animals show all of these in different ways. A plant moves by growing towards light, rather than moving from place to place. An animal gets its nutrition by eating, but a plant makes its own food by photosynthesis.
Excretion is not the same as egestion. Excretion is removing waste made by the cells (for example carbon dioxide). Egestion is removing undigested food.
When asked why something is a living organism, link each characteristic to a real example, such as 'it respires to release energy'. Do not just list the words.
Written and checked against the Edexcel IGCSE Biology (4BI1) specification · Updated October 2026