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"NASA's definition" refers to life as a phenomenon, not a living individual, which makes it incomplete as living individuals do not evolve. [27] Thus alternative, definitions based on the notion of life as a phenomenon and a living individual have been proposed as continuum of a self-maintainable information , and a distinct element of this ...
A life form (also spelled life-form or lifeform) is an entity that is living, [1] [2] such as plants , animals , and fungi . It is estimated that more than 99% of all species that ever existed on Earth, amounting to over five billion species, [3] are extinct. [4] [5] Earth is the only celestial body known to harbor life forms. No form of ...
An organism is any living thing that functions as an individual. [1] Such a definition raises more problems than it solves, not least because the concept of an individual is also difficult. Many criteria, few of them widely accepted, have been proposed to define what an organism is.
Sentient beings is a term used to designate the totality of living, conscious beings that constitute the object and audience of Buddhist teaching. Translating various Sanskrit terms (jantu, bahu jana, jagat, sattva), sentient beings conventionally refers to the mass of living things subject to illusion, suffering, and rebirth .
Ontology is the philosophical study of being.It is traditionally understood as the subdiscipline of metaphysics focused on the most general features of reality.As one of the most fundamental concepts, being encompasses all of reality and every entity within it.
Living systems are life forms (or, more colloquially known as living things) treated as a system. They are said to be open self-organizing and said to interact with their environment. These systems are maintained by flows of information , energy and matter .
1579 drawing of the Great Chain of Being from Didacus Valades , Rhetorica Christiana. The great chain of being is a hierarchical structure of all matter and life, thought by medieval Christianity to have been decreed by God. The chain begins with God and descends through angels, humans, animals and plants to minerals. [1] [2] [3]
The community of living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving components (e.g., water, light, radiation, temperature, humidity, atmosphere, acidity, and soil) of their environment is called an ecosystem. [147] [148] [149] These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. [150]