Cds.

journey
Life Process
 Life Processes
The existence of life on the planet earth is mainly
based on certain functions and processes. There

Cds.journey
are certain basic vital processes, which are
essential for an organism to stay healthy and to
maintain the proper functioning of the body’s
organ systems. They are necessary for survival.
These basic essential activities performed by an
organism are called life processes.
Maintenance of living organism is essential even if
they are moving, resting or even sleeping.
The processes which together perform the function
of maintenance of ‘life’ are called as life processes.

Cds.journey
Nutrition, respiration, circulation, excretion are
examples of essential life processes.
In unicellular organisms, all these processes are
carried out by that single cell.
In multicellular organisms, well-developed systems
are present to carry out the processes.
Cds.journey
 Nutrition-
The process of acquiring food that is needed for
nourishment and sustenance of the organism is
called nutrition.

Cds.journey
There are two main modes of nutrition,
autotrophic and heterotrophic.
The autotrophs, include green plants and some
bacteria.
The heterotrophs survival depends directly or
indirectly on autotrophs. Heterotrophic organisms
include animals and fungi.
 Autotrophic Nutrition-
Carbon and energy requirements of the autotrophic
organism are fulfilled by photosynthesis.
It's the process by which autotrophs take in substances
from the outside and convert them into stored forms of

Cds.journey
energy.
Material is taken in the form of CO₂ & water which is
converted into carbohydrates in the presence of sunlight
and chlorophyll.
The carbohydrates which are not used immediately are
stored in the form of starch.
The energy derived from the food we eat is stored in our
body in the form of glycogen.
 Cds.journey
The following events occur during photosynthesis-
Absorption of light energy by chlorophyll.
Conversion of light energy to chemical energy and
splitting of water molecules into hydrogen and
oxygen.
Reduction of carbon dioxide to carbohydrates.
Cds.journey
Desert plants take up carbon dioxide at night and prepare
an intermediate which is acted upon by the energy
absorbed by the chlorophyll during the day.
Some cells contain green dots. These green dots are cell
organelles called chloroplasts which contain chlorophyll.

Cds.journey
Massive amounts of gaseous exchange takes place in the
leaves through stomata for the purpose of photosynthesis.
It is important to note that exchange of gases occurs
across the surface of stems, roots and leaves as well.

Cds.journey
The plant closes these pores when it does not need carbon
dioxide.
The opening and closing of the pore is a function of the
guard cells.
Other materials like nitrogen, phosphorus, iron and
magnesium are taken up from the soil by autotrophs.
Nitrogen is an essential element used in the synthesis of
proteins and other compounds.
 Heterotrophic Nutrition-
Some organisms break-down the food material outside the
body and then absorb it.
Examples are fungi like bread moulds, yeast and

Cds.journey
mushrooms.
Others take in whole material and break it down inside
their bodies.
Some other organisms derive nutrition from plants or
animals without killing them.
This parasitic nutritive strategy is used by a wide variety of
organisms like cuscuta (amar-bel), ticks, lice, leeches and
tape-worms.
Amoeba takes in food using temporary finger-like
extensions of the cell surface which fuse over the food
particle forming a food-vacuole.

Cds.journey
In Paramoecium, which 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.

Cds.journey
 Nutrition in Human Beings-
The alimentary canal is basically a long tube extending from
the mouth to the anus.
Since the lining of the canal is soft, the food is also wetted to

Cds.journey
make its passage smooth.
When we eat something we like, our mouth ‘waters’. This is a
fluid called saliva secreted by the salivary glands.
The saliva contains an enzyme called salivary amylase that
breaks down starch which is a complex molecule to give
simple sugar.
The lining of canal has muscles that contract rhythmically in
order to push the food forward. These peristaltic movements
occur all along the gut.
From the mouth, the food is taken to the stomach through the
food-pipe or oesophagus.
The muscular walls of the stomach help in mixing the food
thoroughly with more digestive juices.
The gastric glands present in the wall of stomach release

Cds.journey
hydrochloric acid, a protein digesting enzyme called pepsin, and
mucus.
The hydrochloric acid creates an acidic medium which facilitates
the action of the enzyme pepsin.
The mucus protects the inner lining of the stomach from the
action of the acid under normal conditions.
The exit of food from the stomach is regulated by a sphincter
muscle which releases it in small amounts into the small
intestine.
From the stomach, the food now enters the small intestine.
This is the longest part of the alimentary canal.
Herbivores need a longer small intestine to allow the cellulose to
be digested. Meat is easier to digest, hence carnivores have a
shorter small intestine.

Cds.journey
The small intestine is the site of the complete digestion of
carbohydrates, proteins and fats. It receives the secretions of the
liver and pancreas for this purpose.
The food coming from the stomach is acidic and has to be made
alkaline for the pancreatic enzymes to act.
Bile juice from the liver accomplishes this in addition to acting on
fats.
Bile salts break them down into smaller globules increasing the
efficiency of enzyme action.
The pancreas secretes pancreatic juice which contains enzymes
like trypsin for digesting proteins and lipase for breaking down
emulsified fats.
The enzymes present convert the proteins to amino acids,
complex carbohydrates into glucose and fats into fatty acids and

Cds.journey
glycerol.
The inner lining of the small intestine has numerous finger-like
projections called villi which increase the surface area for
absorption.
The villi are richly supplied with blood vessels which take the
absorbed food to each and every cell of the body.
The unabsorbed food is sent into the large intestine where its
wall absorb more water from this material. The rest of the
material is removed from the body via the anus.
Cds.journey
 Dental caries-
Dental caries or tooth decay
causes gradual softening of
enamel and dentine.

Cds.journey
It begins when bacteria
acting on sugars produce
acids that softens or
demineralises the enamel.
Saliva cannot reach the
tooth surface to neutralise
the acid as plaque covers the
teeth.
 Respiration-
Respiration broadly means the exchange of gases.
Animals and plants have different means of

Cds.journey
exchange of gases.
At a cellular level, respiration means the burning of
the food at the for generating the energy needed
for other life processes.
Cellular respiration may take place in the presence
or absence of oxygen.
 Cds.journey
The first step is the break-down of glucose, a six-carbon
molecule, into a three-carbon molecule called pyruvate.
This process takes place in the cytoplasm.
Further, it may convert into ethanol and carbon dioxide.
This process takes place in yeast during fermentation.
Since this process takes place in the absence of air (oxygen), it
is called anaerobic respiration.
Breakdown of pyruvate using oxygen takes place in the
mitochondria.
This process breaks up the three-carbon pyruvate molecule to

Cds.journey
give three molecules of CO₂ & water. Since this process takes
place in the presence of oxygen, it is called aerobic respiration.
The release of energy in this is a lot greater than in the
anaerobic process.
Lack of oxygen in our muscle cells is another pathway for the
break-down of pyruvate.
This build-up of lactic acid in our muscles during sudden
activity causes cramps.
The energy released during cellular respiration is
immediately used to synthesise ATP which is used to fuel
all other activities in the cell.
ATP is broken down giving rise to a fixed amount of energy

Cds.journey
which can drive the endothermic reactions taking place in
the cell.
ATP is the energy currency for most cellular processes.
At night, when there is no photosynthesis occurring, CO2
elimination is the major exchange activity in plants.
During the day, CO2 generated during respiration is used
up for photosynthesis, hence there is no CO2 release.
Instead, oxygen release is the major event at this time.
The amount of dissolved oxygen is fairly low compared to
the amount of oxygen in the air, the rate of breathing in
aquatic organisms is much faster than that seen in
terrestrial organisms.

Cds.journey
Terrestrial organisms use the oxygen in the atmosphere
for respiration.
In human beings, air is taken into the body through the
nostrils.
The air passing through the nostrils is filtered by fine hairs
that line the passage.
The passage is also lined with mucus which helps in this
process.
From here, the air passes through the throat and into the
lungs.
Rings of cartilage are present in the throat. These ensure that
the air-passage does not collapse.
Within the lungs, balloon-like structures alveoli provide a

Cds.journey
surface where the exchange of gases can take place.
When we breathe in, we lift our ribs and flatten our
diaphragm, and the chest cavity becomes larger as a result.
Because of this, air is sucked into the lungs and fills the
expanded alveoli.
During the breathing cycle, when air is taken in and let out,
the lungs always contain a residual volume of air so that there
is sufficient time for oxygen to be absorbed and for the carbon
dioxide to be released.
Respiratory pigments take up oxygen from the air in the lungs
and carry it to tissues which are deficient in oxygen before
releasing it.
In human beings, the respiratory pigment is haemoglobin
which has a very high affinity for oxygen.

Cds.journey
It is present in the red blood corpuscles.
Carbon dioxide is more soluble in water than oxygen is and
hence is mostly transported in the dissolved form in our blood.
If the alveolar surface were spread out, it would cover about
80 m².
If diffusion were to move oxygen in our body, it is estimated
that it would take 3 years for a molecule of oxygen to get to
our toes from our lungs.
Cds.journey
 Transportation-
All living organisms need a few necessary components like air,
water, and food for their survival.
On our regular basis, animals ensure these elements by breathing,
drinking and eating.

Cds.journey
The required elements are transported to their body cells and
tissues by a transportation system.
In plants, the vascular tissue is responsible for transporting the
substances.
Transportation in humans is done by the circulatory system.
The circulatory system in humans mainly consists of blood, blood
vessels and heart.
It is responsible for the supply of oxygen, nutrients, removal of
carbon dioxide and other excretory products.
Cds.journey
 Heart-
The heart is a muscular organ which is as big as our fist.
Both oxygen and carbon dioxide is transported by the
blood, the heart has different chambers to prevent the

Cds.journey
oxygen-rich blood from mixing with the blood containing
carbon dioxide.
Oxygen-rich blood from the lungs comes to the thin-
walled upper chamber of the heart on the left, the left
atrium.
The left atrium relaxes when it is collecting this blood. It
then contracts, while the next chamber, the left ventricle,
relaxes, so that the blood is transferred to it.
When the muscular left ventricle contracts in its turn, the
blood is pumped out to the body.
De-oxygenated blood comes from the body to the upper
chamber on the right, the right atrium, as it relaxes.

Cds.journey
As the right atrium contracts, the corresponding lower
chamber, the right ventricle, enlarges.
This transfers blood to the right ventricle, which in turn
pumps it to the lungs for oxygenation.
Since ventricles have to pump blood into various organs,
they have thicker muscular walls than the atria do. Valves
ensure that blood does not flow backwards when the atria
or ventricles contract.
Cds.journey
The separation of the right side and the left side of the
heart allows a highly efficient supply of oxygen to the
body.
This is useful in animals that have high energy needs,

Cds.journey
such as birds and mammals, which constantly use
energy to maintain their body temperature.
Amphibians or many reptiles have three-chambered
hearts, and tolerate some mixing of the oxygenated and
de-oxygenated blood streams.
Fishes have only two chambers to their hearts, and the
blood is pumped to the gills, is oxygenated there, and
passes directly to the rest of the body.
Thus, blood goes only
once through the heart
in the fish during one
cycle of passage through

Cds.journey
the body.
On the other hand, it
goes through the heart
twice during each cycle in
other vertebrates. This is
known as double
circulation.
 Blood Pressure-
The pressure exerted by the blood when it flows through
the blood vessels is called blood pressure.
This pressure is much greater in arteries than in veins.

Cds.journey
The pressure of blood inside the artery during ventricular
systole (contraction) is called systolic pressure.
Pressure in artery during ventricular diastole (relaxation)
is called diastolic pressure.
The normal systolic pressure is about 120 mm of Hg and
diastolic pressure is 80 mm of Hg.
Blood pressure is measured with an instrument called
sphygmomanometer.
 Blood Vessels-
Arteries are the vessels which carry blood away from the
heart to various organs of the body. Since the blood emerges
from the heart under high pressure, the arteries have thick,

Cds.journey
elastic walls.
Veins collect the blood from different organs and bring it back
to the heart. They do not need thick walls because the blood
is no longer under pressure, instead they have valves that
ensure that the blood flows only in one direction.
The smallest vessels have walls which are one-cell thick and
are called capillaries.
Capillaries join together to form veins that convey the blood
away from the organ or tissue.
Cds.journey
Platelets-
Bleeding occurs when the blood vessels rupture.
It is stopped by the platelets that help in the clotting of blood at
the site of the injury.
Blood Clotting is the process of forming a clot in order to

Cds.journey
prevent excess loss of blood from the body.
It is a gel-like mass which is formed by the platelets and a fibre-
like protein in the blood.
Lymph-
Through the pores present in the walls of capillaries some
amount of plasma, proteins and blood cells escape into
intercellular spaces in the tissues to form tissue fluid or lymph.
It is colourless and contains less protein.
 Transportation in Plants-
Transportation is a vital process in plants.
The process involves the transportation
of water and necessary nutrients to all

Cds.journey
parts of the plant for its survival.
Food and water
transportation takes
place separately in
plants.
Xylem transports water
and phloem transports
food.
In xylem tissue, vessels and tracheids of the roots, stems
and leaves are interconnected to form a continuous system
of water-conducting channels reaching all parts of the plant.
At the roots, cells in contact with the soil actively take up
ions.

Cds.journey
The loss of water in the form of vapour from the aerial parts
of the plant is known as transpiration.
Transpiration helps in the absorption and upward
movement of water and minerals dissolved in it from roots
to the leaves. It also helps in temperature regulation.
During the day when the stomata are open, the
transpiration pull becomes the major driving force in the
movement of water in the xylem.
Cds.journey
The transport of soluble products of photosynthesis is called
translocation and it occurs in the part of the vascular tissue
known as phloem.
Besides the products of photosynthesis, the phloem transports
amino acids and other substances.

Cds.journey
These substances are especially delivered to the storage organs
of roots, fruits and seeds and to growing organs.
The translocation of food and other substances takes place in
the sieve tubes with the help of adjacent companion cells both
in upward and downward directions.
Translocation in phloem is achieved by utilising energy.
Material like sucrose is transferred into phloem tissue using
energy from ATP. This increases the osmotic pressure of the
tissue causing water to move into it
Cds.journey
 Excretion-
Other metabolic activities
generate nitrogenous
materials which need to be

Cds.journey
removed. The biological
process involved in the
removal of these harmful
metabolic wastes from the
body is called excretion.
The excretory system of
human beings includes a pair
of kidneys, a pair of ureters, a
urinary bladder and a urethra.
Urine produced in the kidneys passes through the
ureters into the urinary bladder where it is stored until
it is released through the urethra.
The purpose of making urine is to filter out waste

Cds.journey
products from the blood.
Nitrogenous waste such as urea or uric acid are
removed from blood in the kidneys.
Each kidney has large numbers of these filtration units
called nephrons.
Glucose, amino acids, salts and a major amount of
water, are selectively re-absorbed as the urine flows
along the tube.
The urine eventually enters a
long tube, the ureter, which
connects the kidneys with
the urinary bladder.

Cds.journey
It is stored in the urinary
bladder until the pressure of
the expanded bladder leads
to the urge to pass it out
through the urethra.
The bladder is muscular, so it
is under nervous control.
 Haemodialysis-
When the kidneys fail, it results in a lot of complications and
to compensate this situation a technology called dialysis has
been developed.

Cds.journey
It uses a machine filter called a dialyzer or artificial kidney.
This is to remove excess water and salt, to balance other
electrolytes in the body and remove waste products of
metabolism.
Blood from the body is removed and flowed through a series
of tubes made up of a semipermeable membrane.
A dialysate flows on the other side of the membrane, which
draws impurities through the membrane.
Cds.journey
 Excretion in Plants-
The cellular respiration, photosynthesis, and other metabolic reactions
produce a lot of excretory products in plants.
Oxygen itself can be thought of as a waste product generated during
photosynthesis.

Cds.journey
Excess water is excreted by transpiration.
Organic by-products generated by the plant are stored in different
forms in different parts.
The gums, oils, latex, resins, etc. are some waste products stored in
plant parts like barks, stems, leaves, etc.
Eventually, plants shed off these parts.
Few examples of the excretory products of plants are oil produced from
orange, eucalyptus, jasmine, latex from the rubber tree, papaya tree,
and gums from acacia.
Sometimes plants even excrete into the soil.
Cds.journey
Cds.journey