The essential processes for maintaining life include nutrition, absorption, respiration, metabolism, excretion, and reproduction. These processes ensure organisms obtain and utilize energy, produce necessary substances, remove waste, grow, repair, and reproduce. In summary:
- Nutrition: Obtaining and breaking down food to provide energy and nutrients.
- Absorption: Uptake of nutrients into the body for use.
- Respiration: Conversion of nutrients (e.g., glucose) into energy at the cellular level.
- Metabolism: The chemical reactions fueled by energy for growth, repair, and maintenance.
- Excretion: Removal of metabolic waste to avoid toxicity.
- Reproduction: Producing offspring for species continuation.
Additional important life processes often considered include transportation (movement of substances within the body), movement, and homeostasis (maintenance of internal stability). These processes collectively sustain life and species survival.
