What is an Organism?

How can I explain and really understand organism?

i was looking up GMO and came to the word organism.


I have always wanted to know how to explain organism to some one else and it may be important to get a better idea for a teaching perspective.





















Organism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMO
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Root
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organism
http://www.biol.lu.se/cellorgbiol/plantmicrobe/index.html



In biology and ecology, an organism (in Greek organon = instrument) is a living complex adaptive system of organs that influence each other in such a way that they function in some way as a stable whole.


The word "organism" may broadly be defined as an assembly of molecules that influence each other in such a way that they function as a more or less stable whole and have properties of life. However, many sources, lexical and scientific, add conditions that are problematic to defining the word.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines an organism as "[an] individual animal, plant, or single-celled life form"[1] This definition problematically excludes non-animal and plant multi-cellular life forms such as some fungi and protista. Less controversially, perhaps, it excludes viruses and theoretically-possible man-made non-organic life forms.

• Organism are molecules that come together as a whole to function as life forms
• They can be good organism that include the salad we eat or they can be bad organism that include E.coli
• Organism are never really independent of an ecosystem
• They are capable of independent reproduction and can exist in systems of life, made of living and dead tissue
• The crab is and example of an organism
• Superorganisms consist of many organisms and ants are the most well know example
• All organisms are classified by the science of taxonomy, which we just learned about
• Organisms are complex chemical reactions that promote reproduction and survival
• All organisms consist of cells
• Organism life span could be as short as one day, while some plants can live thousands of years

I am still unclear how to tie in the Greek word "instrument"

Does any one know - is GMO an organism? (non-organic / life form)

http://www.howstuffworks.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_watching

http://www.backyardnature.net/buttrfly.htm

this weeks try is the butterfly!

I am asking this question because I wonder if any one has ever had a butterfly land on them.
I have.
I was sad when it flew away. I wonder why it landed on me? Maybe I had something sweet on my fingers. Better still maybe it was tired and just needed to get its second wind or the best posible answer could be the butterfly wanted to examine me just as much as I wanted to examine it.
Butterflies seem to like native plants - which could mean less maintenance for gardeners.
Butterflies seem to like very colorful flowers so if you want more butterflies in your garden plant colorful flowers for all to enjoy.

cat

Can people understand cat language?


Cats use more than one hundred vocalizations and types of body language for communication, including mewing ("meow" or "miaow"), purring, hissing, growling, chirping, clicking, and grunting.[4] Cats have even been observed mimicking the calls of birds.[citation needed]
Like horses and other domesticated animals, cats can sometimes become feral, living effectively in the wild. Feral cats will often form small feral cat colonies when the food supply can support several cats in a concentrated area. Animal welfare organizations note that few abandoned cats are able to survive long enough to become feral, most being killed by vehicles, or succumbing to starvation, predators, exposure, or disease.






Butterfly

A butterfly is an insect of the order Lepidoptera, it belongs to either the Hesperioidea (the skippers) or Papilionoidea (all other butterflies) Superfamilies. Some authors have also suggested the inclusion of the superfamily Hedyloidea, the American butterfly moths.[1] They are notable for their unusual life cycle with a larval caterpillar stage, an inactive pupal stage and a spectacular metamorphosis into a familiar and colourful winged adult form. The diverse patterns formed by their brightly coloured wings and their erratic-yet-graceful flight have made butterfly watching a popular hobby.


Is this butterfly alive? If so, why is it friendly?