WBBSE Class 9 Life Science Solutions Chapter 1.1 Basic Properties of Life

Detailed explanations in West Bengal Board Class 9 Life Science Book Solutions Chapter 1.1 Basic Properties of Life offer valuable context and analysis.

WBBSE Class 9 Science Chapter 1.1 Question Answer – Basic Properties of Life

Very Short Questions and Answers : (1 mark for each question)

Question 1
Mention five common signs of life.
Answer:
Reproduction, growth, metabolism, response to stimuli and adaptability are the five common signs of life.

Question 2.
What does reproduction mean?
Answer:
Reproduction is the biological process by which new individuals or offsprings are produced from their parents.

Question 3.
Define excitability.
Answer:
Excitability is defined as a response of a living organism to any external and internal stimulus.

Question 4.
What is meant by response?
Answer:
The reaction shown by a living organism towards any impulse, is called response.

Question 5.
What does metabolism mean?
Answer:
A set of complex physiological and chemical processes necessary for sustaining life, involving formation and breakdown of various nutrients within the body is called metabolism.

Question 6.
What is growth?
Answer:
Growth is the irreversible increase in dry mass and size of a living body.

Question 7.
What is meant by biopoiesis?
Answer:
Biopoiesis is the concept of the origin of living organisms from non-living matters.

Question 8.
Who first suggested that living organisms originated from non-living matters?
Answer:
Philosopher Aristotle first suggested that living organisms originated from non-living matters.

Question 9.
From where did primary organic micromolecules originate from inorganic compounds?
Answer:
Primary organic micromolecules originated in the primitive atmosphere from simple inorganic compounds.

Question 10.
How was the atmosphere on earth before the origin of life?
Answer:
Before the origin of life, earth’s atmosphere was reducing in nature.

Question 11.
Why the atmosphere of primitive earth was reducing in nature?
Answer:
The atmosphere of primitive earth was reducing in nature because there was no free oxygen in the atmosphere.

Question 12.
Name the two scientists who suggested that organic micromolecules originated on earth by chemical reactions amongst simple inorganic compounds.
Answer:
Scientists Alexander Oparin and JBS Haldane, first suggested that organic micromolecules originated on earth by chemical reactions amongst simple inorganic compounds.

Question 13.
How did primary organic micromolecules reach the earth’s surface?
Answer:
Primary organic micromolecules reached the earth’s surface through rainwater.

Question 14.
Who coined the term ‘primordial soup’?
Answer:
Scientist A1 Oparin coined the term ‘primordial soup’ to denote the primitive oceanic water rich in organic matter.

Question 15.
Which term was used by Haldane to indicate the boiling hot oceanic water of the primitive earth rich in organic matter?
Answer:
Haldane denoted the organic matter-rich boiling hot oceanic water of the primitive earth as ‘hot dilute soup’.

Question 16.
What are proteinoids?
Answer:
Proteinoids are tiny clusters of protein molecules formed abiotically from amino acids by cross-linkage.

Question 17.
What are microspheres?
Answer:
Microspheres are spherical clusters of proteinoids, covered with thin film of phospholipids.

Question 18.
Name two primitive forms, which are considered as predecessors of living organisms on earth.
Answer:
Microspheres and coacervates are two primitive forms, which are considered as predecessors of living organisms on earth.

Question 19.
Which organic matters constitute a protobiont?
Answer:
A protobiont is constituted of organic matters like nucleic acids, lipids and various protein molecules.

Question 20.
What is meant by alpha (α) diversity?
Answer:
Alpha (α) diversity indicates the richness of species in a specific area or an ecosystem.

Question 21.
What is meant by beta (β) diversity?
Answer:
Beta (β) diversity is the measure of the comparative turnover of species in two different habitats of an ecosystem.

Question 22.
What is meant by gamma (γ) diversity?
Answer:
Gamma (γ) diversity is the overall biodiversity of a large geographical realm, consisting of many typical habitats and ecosystems.

Question 23.
What are the two main causes of biodiversity on earth?
Answer:
Genetic variation and natural selection are the two main causes of biodiversity on earth.

Question 24.
Which class of animals shows the highest level of diversity in India?
Answer:
In India, birds show the highest level of diversity, where about 12.6% of global bird species are found.

Question 25.
What is meant by biodiversity hotspot?
Answer:
Biodiversity hotspot is a geographical area that provides shelter to a very rich variety of endemic species that are facing the threat of extinction.

Question 26.
How many biodiversity hotspots are there in India?
Answer:
In India there are three biodiversity hotspots-the Western Ghats, the Himalayas and the Indo-Burma regions.

Question 27.
How many biodiversity hotspots are there in the World?
Answer:
According to Conservation International (2004), there are 34 hotspots in the world.

Question 28.
Which type of diversity is also known as turnover diversity?
Answer:
Beta diversity is also known as turnover diversity.

Short Questions and Answers : (2 marks for each question)

Question 1.
What is life?
Answer:
Life is the condition that establishes the existence of a living organism on the basis of various characteristics such as growth, reproduction, metabolic activities, response to stimuli, adaptability, ageing, death etc.

Question 2.
What are non-living objects?
Answer:
Those objects which do not show any of the signs of life, such as growth, reproduction, metabolic activities, response to stimuli, ageing and senescence etc., are called non-living objects.

Question 3.
What is meant by life cycle?
Answer:
The cyclic course of events undergone by an organism, starting from its birth followed by growth, maturity, reproduction, ageing and finally death, is known as its life cycle.

Question 4.
Define heredity.
Answer:
Heredity is the process of transfer of different characteristics from parents to their offsprings.

Question 5.
What is evolution?
Answer:
Evolution is the slow, steady and continuous emergence of advanced and complex forms of life from primitive and simpler forms. It also involves change in heritable characters of biological population from one generation to the next.

Question 6.
What is meant by mutation? What is mutability?
Answer:

• Mutation: Mutation is a sudden, permanent and inheritable transformation in living organisms, caused due to any change in chromosome or gene either naturally or by any external factor.
• Mutability: The capacity of a living organism to undergo mutation is called mutability.

Question 7.
What is meant by variation?
Answer:
The dissimilarities in external or internal features or behaviours found amongst the different members of a species in a population, is called variation.

Question 8.
Give an example of response to stimuli shown by plant.
Answer:
The leaves of ‘touch me not’ (Mimosa pudica) plant droop when touched. This is an example of response to stimuli shown by a plant.

Question 9.
What is meant by senescence?
Answer:
Senescence is the process of gradual and irreversible deterioration in the structural components of the body and decrease in the ability of a matured organism to deal with the stress of the environment.

Question 10.
what is meant by ageing? What is death?
Answer:

• Ageing: Ageing is the process of growing older with time, that is genetically determined and environmentally modulated.
• Death: Death is the ultimate disappearance of all signs of life from a living organism.

Question 11.
What does the ‘Ghemogeny of life’ mean?
Answer:
Chemogeny or chemosynthesis of life is the most modern concept, used to explain the biochemical origin of life on the earth. According to this concept, life originated naturally and spontaneously from simpler inorganic matters on earth, through various physical and chemical processes.

Question 12.
What is meant by ‘hoi dilute soup’?
Answer:
According to the theory of chemosynthesis, several organic molecules accumulated in the hot boiling water of the primitive ocean before the origin of life. Haldane denoted this hot broth of organic matter as ‘hot dilute soup!

Question 13.
What are coacervates?
Answer:
Coacervates are minute (1-100μ in diameter), spherical, bubble-shaped, colloidal matters, composed of a thin layer of organic molecules rich in lipids. Oparin (1924) first suggested this structure and named it coacervate.

Question 14.
Mention the living features of microspheres.
Answer:
The living features of microspheres are as follows —

• They are surrounded by a double-layered membrane
• They show osmotic activity.
• Certain protein molecules present in the microspheres, have enzymatic activity
• Microspheres may divide through a process similar to binary fission.

Question 15.
What are proiocells?
Answer:
In the primitive sea, nucleic acid molecules entered into protein coacervates to take the shape of primitive cells. These primitive structures are known as protocells, in which the first sign of life was noticed.

Question 16.
What are naked genes?
Answer:
According to the chemosynthetic theory, during the last phase of ceil formation, purines, pyrimidines and pentose sugars united to form nucleic acids. These nucleic acid molecules were capable of seif-replication. They were devoid of histone and other proteins and as they were not surrounded by nuclear membrane. They were called naked genes.

Question 17.
What is meant by biodiversity?
Answer:
Biodiversity refers to the variety of different types of living organisms on the basis of structure, shape and behaviour found on earth, that are inhabiting different habitats of various ecosystems.

Question 18.
What is meant by genetic diversity?
Answer:
The different types of variations and combinations in the genetic composition among the individuals of a species is considered as genetic diversity. Due to genetic diversity, different individuals of same species look and behave differently.

Question 19.
What is meant by species diversity?
Answer:
The diversity in number, richness and evenness in distribution of various species in a biotic community is regarded as species diversity. This is estimaed by determining the number of variety of a species and the number of species Inhabiting a specified area.

Question 20.
What is meant by ecological diversity?
Answer:
The variation of several ecosystems in a large geograpical area or throughout the planet. is known as ecological diversity. The diversity of organisms from a microhabitat to a huge hiome is included under ecological diversity.

Question 21.
What is meant by species?
Answer:
Species is a group of closeI related individuals, which are capable of naturally interbreeding to produce fertile offsprings. They remain reproductively isolated from other groups.

Question 22.
How do variation occur In a population?
Answer:
Almost every individual of any sexually reproducing population is slightly different from one another. There are three main reasons behind —

• Formatilin of different types of ganletes I due to crossing over,
• Random union of gametes and
• Change in the genetic material.

Question 23.
Give a brief note on the biodiversity of India.
Answer:
The biological diversity of India includes a huge variety of plant and animal species, their genetic variability and the organisation of species into different ecosystems. India is one of the seventeen megadiverse countries on earth. In global perspective, India houses about 7.6% of all mammals, 12.6% of all birds, 6.2% of all reptiles, 4.4% of all amphibians, 11.7% of all fishes and 6.0% of all flora.

Question 24.
What are the reasons for the loss of biodiversity?
Answer:
The main reasons for the loss of biodiversity are-

• Deforestation,
• Habitat fragmentation,
• Environmental pollution,
• Over exploitation of resources by Illegal hunting and poaching,
• Natural calamities,
• Alteration of natural environment due to green house effect, ozone layer depletion etc.,
• Genetic incompatibility,
• Introduction of exotic species etc.

Question 25.
What are the contributing factors of biodiversity?
Answer:
The contributing factors of biodiversity are-

• Variation
• Mutation
• Speciation
• Adaptation
• Geographical isolation
• Change in climatic condition
• Change in habitat etc.

Question 26.
Compare between coacervate and microsphere.
Answer:

features	Coacervate		Microsphere
1. Definition	These are minute spherical, bubble-shapped structures originating in the ‘hot dilute soup’		These are spherical clusters of proteinoids covered by a thin film of lipid bilayer
2. Function	Plays an important role as the precursor of protocell		Plays an Important role as the precursor of the early or primitive cell
3. Structural component	Structure is composed of protein, fat, carbohydrate and nucleic acid		Structure is composed mainly of proteins formed from proteinoids

Long Questions and Answers : (5 marks for each question)

Question 1.
Explain the basic properties of lite.
Answer:
Basic properties of life
From biological point of view, there are five basic properties of life. They are —

(1) Reproduction: Reproduction is a biological process by which living organisms give birth to offsprings in their lifetime, in order to protect their races from becoming extinct.

(2) Growth: Growth is the irreversible increase in dry mass and size of a living body. A living organism must exhibit growth and development in due course of time.

(3) Metabolism: Metabolism is a set of life sustaining chemical reactions involving formation and breakdown of various nutrients within the body. Different metabolic activities like nutrition, respiration, excretion etc. take place in a living organism.

(4) Response to stimuli: Response to external and internal stimulus is an important character of a living organism. For example, if a moving millipede is touched, it coils around.

(5) Adaptability: Adaptability is a property of life where any living organism tries to adjust itself, either structurally or behaviourally, according to the changing environment.

Question 2.
Mention the differences between living beings and non-living objects.
Answer:
Differences between living beings and non-living objects

Features	Living beings	Non-living objects
1. Reproduction	Living beings maintain their race by reproduction	Non-living objects do not reproduce
2. Response to stimuli	Living beings respond to external or internal stimuli	Sensitivity to stimulus is absent in non-living objects
3. Growth	Living beings grow gradually with time	Non-living objects never show any growth
4. Metabolism	Living beings perform various metabolic activities like photosynthesis, nutrition, respiration etc.	Non-living objects never perform any metabolic function
5. Life span	Ali living forms have a definite life span	Non-living objects do not have any specific duration of existence
6. Movement and locomotion	Living beings spontaneously exhibit movement and locomotion	Movement occurs as a result of external influence
7. Protoplasm	Cells of living organisms have active protoplasm	Protoplasm is absent

8. Adaptability	Living organisms can adapt themselves according to changing environment		Non-living objects do not show any adaptation
9. Life cycle	Living organisms have life cycle		Non living objects do not have life cycle
10. Senescence and death	Living organisms show signs of senescence and death		Non-living objects do not show signs of senescence and death

Question 3.
Briefly describe the origin of earth and gradual changes in the primitive atmosphere according to the theory of chemosynthesis of life.
Answer:
Origin of earth and gradual changes in the primitive atmosphere
According to the theory of chemosynthesis of life or the theory of abiogenesis about 5-6 billion years ago, the earth originated from a huge explosion known as the Big Bang in the cosmos. At that time, the earth was a mass of burning gas. It took several million years to cool down and condense.

The temperature of primitive earth was around 5000°C — 6000°C. At that high temperature, it was difficult for certain gases such as hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen etc. to exist independently in the atmosphere. As a result, they were present in the form of metallic or non-metallic compounds.

Therefore, the primitive atmosphere was reducing in nature due to the absence of free oxygen. With gradual decrease in temperature, water vapour condensed to form huge clouds, which came down on the earth in the form of rain. Gradually, the earth started to cool down further and condensed to form solid matters. The rainwater accumulated in the lowlands to form the primitive ocean.

Question 4.
Briefly describe chemogeny of life.
Answer:
Chemogeny of life
The process of synthesis of various organic compounds essential for the origin of life on the earth, was denoted as chemogeny by scientists Oparin and Haldane. This involves 3 steps. The steps of chemogeny are discussed below.

1. Origin of simple organic compounds: With gradual decrease in atmospheric tempertaure, the chemical components like hydrogen, methane, ammonia, water vapour etc., started reacting with each other to form simple organic molecules such as amino acids, simple sugars, fatty acids etc. The energy required to carry out these reactions was provided by lighting, ultraviolet ray and different cosmic rays. Through downpour, these compounds precipitated on earth and mixed in the primitive ocean.

2. Formation of complex organic compounds: The simple organic molecules condensed in the primitive ocean to form complex organic compounds such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, purines, pyrimidines etc. The boiling hot water of the primitive ocean containing the complex organic compounds was denoted as hot dilute soup by Haldane. Oparin termed the same as primordial soup.

3. Formation of coacervates: In the hot dilute soup, the organic matters, especially lipids, clustered to form a self-organised colloidal matter. Oparin named this bubble-shaped structures as coacervates. American scientist Sidney Fox (1957), denoted a similar substance as microsphere, which, according to him, was formed by unification of several globoid duster of proteins, called proteinoids, surrounded by a double-layered lipid membrane.

Question 5.
Explain biogeny or organic evolution of life.
Answer:
Biogeny or organic evolution of life:
According to Oparin, as the temperature of the atmosphere gradually started to cool down and simple organic compounds reacted with each other to form complex organic compounds by chemosynthesis, the boiling hot water of primitive ocean acted as the site of formation of lipid clusters, called coacervates. These coacervates absorbed nucleic acids and proteins from the primordial soup and transformed into a structure, capable of performing few metabolic activities which were named as protobionts.

The protobionts were capable of synthesising some organic matters within it through various chemical reactions. Later, these protobionts transformed into self-replicating organic matters, which the scientists denoted as eubionts. These were the first living entity on earth. Later, cytoplasm formed within them and thus the earliest prokaryotic cells came into being.

Question 6.
Classify different levels of biodiversity.
Answer:
Levels of biodiversity : Biodiversity has been classified into three levels-

• Genetic diversity,
• Species diversity and
• Ecological diversity,

1. Genetic diversity: The various types of variations and combinations in the genetic composition among the individuals of a species is considered as genetic diversity, Due to genetic diversity, individuals of same species look and behave differently. Example -The diversity in the genes of different varieties of paddy, wheat, dogs, etc.

2. Species divesity : The diversity in number, richness and evenness in distribution of various species in a biotic community is regarded us species diversity. This is estimated by determining the number of variety of a species and the number of species inhabiting a specified area. Example –The diversity of species inhabiting the mangrove forest of Sundarban.

3. Ecological diversity: The variation of several ecosystems in a large geographical area is known as ecological diversity. The diversity of organisms from a microhabitat to a huge biome is included under ecological diversity. American ecologist Whittaker (1965), classified ecological diversity into three different sub-types. They are—

• α diversity: α diversity indicates the richness of species in a specific area or an ecosystem.
• β diversity: β diversity is the measure of comparative turnover of species in two different habitats of an ecosystem.
• γ diversity: γ diversity is the overall biodiversity of a large geographical realm, consisting of many typical habitats and ecosystems.

Question 7.
Describe the different types of variation along with their examples and significance.
Answer:
Types of variation
Variation is broadly classified into two types—

• Continuous variation and
• Discontinuous variation.

Continuous variation: Any characteristic of a species that changes gradually over a range of values is considered to exhibit continuous variation. It is represented by a line graph. Example — Variation in human height, skin colour and weight

Significance — Continuous ‘variation creates diversity amongst the members of same species. The characteristic features which undergo natural selection are ultimately transferred to the next generation.

Discontinuous variation: Any characteristic of a species having only a limited number of possible values is considered to exhibit discontinuous variation. It is represented by a bar graph. Example — Variation in human blood group and human eye colour.

Significance — Mutation is the prime reason behind discontinuous variation. Mutation leads to the development of new species at a comparatively faster rate. Discontinuous variation leads to species diversity.

Question 8.
What are the important features of biodiversity?
Answer:
Important features of biodiversity
The important features of biodiversity are as follows –

• Comparatively high level of biodiversity has been noticed in tropical and subtropical region than temperate region.
• Rate of biodiversity is very high in tropical rain forests in terrestrial ecosystem and coral reefs in aquatic ecosystem.
• Insects are the diverse of all living organisms (56.4% of total species).
• Reduction of genetic diversity of a species gradually leads to its extinction.
• Biodiversity is not evenly distributed in all parts of the world.