APNI KAKSHA 1

Life Processes

• Mode of Nutrition – (HOLOZOIC).

• They are Omnivorous (eat both plants and animals)
• There are five stages of Nutrition in them
• Ingestion • Digestion • Absorption • Assimilation • Egestion
• The digestive system has alimentary canal & digestive glands.
Alimentary Canal
• Long tube which starts with mouth and ends with the anus.
• Oesophagus, Stomach, Small Intestine, Large Intestine are parts of
Alimentary Canal.
Mouth
• It helps in ‘ingestion’ of food.
• It has buccal cavity which has teeth and tongue.
• Teeth helps in mastication of food.
• Tongue helps in tasting the food.
• Salivary glands produce saliva which starts the digestion process.
Teeth
• Teeth are hard structures which help us to cut, shear & masticate
the food.
• Enamel is the outermost layer of teeth which is the hardest part of
the body.
• Dentine makes the bulk of the tooth and contains 70% inorganic
salts.
• The dental pulp is the central soft part of a tooth and contains nerve
endings, blood and lymph vessels.
• Four types of teeth are present in humans
Incisors – cut the food

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 Canines – tear the food
Molars – crush the food
Premolars – crush the food
• The dental formula in humans is 2:1: 2: 3
Oesophagus of Food Pipe
• It is a 25 cm long muscular tube.
• It has a sphincter or valve opening at each
end.
• Its function is to transport food & fluid
• The movement of food is called Peristaltic
movements.
Stomach
• Thick-walled like structure.
• Inner lining of stomach secretes mucous, HCl and digestive juices.
• Food is churned into semi-solid mass called ‘Chyme’
Small Intestine
• Longest part of alimentary canal, about 20 feet long.
• Has finger like projections called ‘Villi’ on the inner surface.
• It has three regions
Duodenum → It follows stomach
Jejunum → Middle part of small Intestine
Illeum → it opens into large intestine.
Large Intestine
• About 5 feet long
• It has two regions
Colons – about 1.5m long
Rectum – about 10 cm
• A small outgrowth is present at the base of the colon called an ‘Appendix’
• Rectum open outside by anus.
Peristalsis
• A wave like movement from the oesophagus to the small intestine.
Digestive Glands
• Salivary Glands produce digestive juice called ‘Saliva’ for the digestion of food.
• Gastric Glands in stomach secrete HCl, pepsin and mucus.
• The liver secretes bile which is stored in gall bladder.
• The pancreas secretes pancreatic juice which contains enzyme like trypsin, chymotrypsin,
Lipase, and amylase.
Pancreas
• It is a long, flat gland present behind the stomach in humans.
• It is both exocrine and endocrine in nature

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• It secretes pancreatic juice which contains like trypsin, chymotrypsin, lipase and amylase.
• It also secrets pancreatic amylase, which helps in digestion of starch and pancreatic lipase
which helps in digestion of fats.
Mouth & Buccal Cavity
Mouth & Buccal Cavity
Starch (carbohydrates)

Stomach

Small Intestine
• Salivary glands secrete 0.5 to 1.5 litres of saliva per day.

Glucose ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
Sali vary amylase
or (Ptyalin)
→ Maltose (a form of sugar)
Function of Saliva
• Protects the tissues of oral cavity
• Dissolves the food and enters taste buds
• Prevents microbial growth.
3 Gastric Juices
HCl (Hydrochloric acid) pH (1.5 to 3.5)
• makes food acidic (so that proteins can be digested)
• kills bacteria and germs
• activates pepsin
• converts inactive pepsinogen and pro-rennin into active pepsin and renin.
Pepsin
• Helps in breakdown of proteins

• Proteins ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
( acidic medium ) → Peptones + Proteases
Pepsin

Mucus
• Protects inner lining of stomach from the secretions of HCl.
• 2 Accessory Glands

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Liver
• Largest gland of the body.
• Liver secretes Bile juice.
• Bile juice helps in ‘emulsification of fats.’
Pancreas
• Secretes ‘Pancreatic juice.’
• Trypsin (digests proteins)
• Lipase (digests fats)
• Pancreatic amylase (digests carbohydrates)
• Intestinal juice digests Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats.
• Complete digestion of food substance occurs in small intestine.
Absorption
Movement of simple digested food from villi of small intestine to blood and lymph is called
Absorption.
The ‘colon’ of small intestine is responsible for absorption of water and salts whereas rectum
stores the undigested food temporarily.
Assimilation
When absorbed food is used for certain metabolic activities or for producing energy is called
Assimilation.
Egestion
Removal of undigested food in the form of faeces is called Egestion.
Q. Name the glands present in the wall of the stomach that release secretions for digestion of
food. Write the three components of secretion that are released by these glands.
(Board Term I, 2014)
Ans. Stomach’s muscular wall contains gastric glands. These glands secrete gastric juices which
contain dilute hydrochloric acid, mucus and two protein digesting enzymes rennin and
pepsin.

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Q. (a) Why is nutrition necessary for the human body?
(b) What causes movement of food inside the alimentary canal?
(c) Why is small intestine in herbivores longer than in carnivores?
(d) What will happen if mucus is not secreted by the gastric glands? (2020)
Ans. (a) Human body continuously require energy for their life activities like respiration,
circulation, excretion, etc. Energy is required even we are sleeping because a number of
biological processes keep on occurring. All these processes require energy and this energy
is obtained from nutrition. Nutrition is also needed for growth and repair of human body.
(b) The wall of alimentary tract contains muscles which can contract and expand
alternately. The contraction and expansion movement of the walls of food pipe is called
peristaltic movement. The peristaltic movement moves the partially digested food in all
the digestive organs throughout the alimentary canal.
(c) Herbivores eat plants which is rich in cellulose. Cellulose takes longer time for complete
digestion by the enzymes present in symbiotic bacteria. Therefore, they have longer small
intestine. Carnivores, feed on flesh which is easier to digest and do not contain cellulose
also. Therefore, they have shorter intestine for digestion of food eaten by them.
(d) Gastric glands secrete HCl, mucus, rennin and pepsin enzymes. Mucus protects the
inner lining of stomach from the action of HCl and enzymes. In the absence of mucus, there
would be erosion of inner lining of stomach leading to acidity and ulcers.
Nutrition In Plants
The process of making food in the form of glucose using light is called as photosynthesis.
CO2 + H2O ⎯⎯⎯⎯ → C6H12O6 + H2O + O2  ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ →
Chlorophyll Siteof Photosynthesis
Sunlight Chloroplasts
Raw materials for Photosynthesis
→ CO 2 + H 2 O → Sunlight and Chlorophyll
Mechanism of Photosynthesis
Light Reaction Dark Reaction
1 Occurs in the presence of Light 1 Can occur in the absence of light
2 Takes place in Thylakoid membrane. 2 Takes place in stroma region.
3 Light energy breaks water into 3 H+ ions from light reaction along with
H 2O → C ( H + + OH − ) ‘Photolysis’ CO2 and some enzymes form
Glucose.
4 H O O 4 Light energy gets converted into
OH− ions produce 2 and 2 .
chemical energy finally.
5 H+ ion will perform dark reaction. 5 CO2 produces Glucose.
6 ATP and NADPH are produced. 6

ATP→ Adenosine Triphosphate

NADPH→ Nicotinamide Adenosine Dinucleotide Hydrogen Phosphate.
Respiration means exchange of gases.
• At Cellular level, respiration means the burning of food for generating energy needed for
other life processes.
• Cellular Respiration may take place in the presence or absence of Oxygen.

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 Glucose + Oxygen →Energy + Carbon dioxide + Water+(ATP)
Breathing Respiration
1 Involves inhalation and exhalation of 1 Involves exchange of gases and
air. oxidation of food.
2 It uses energy. 2 It releases energy.
3 Occurs outside the cell. (extra cellular 3 Occurs inside the cell (intracellular
process) process)
Respiration in Humans
• It involves breathing, exchange of gases and cellular respiration.
• Involves inhalation of oxygen and exhalation of Carbon dioxide.
• Gaseous exchange takes place in the lungs and oxygen is supplied to all cells of the body.
• Cellular Respiration takes place in each and every cell.
Respiration System
• This system involves the nose, nasal cavity, pharynx, larynx, trachea/windpipe, bronchi,
bronchioles and alveoli.
• Lungs have a pair of Bronchioles and alveoli.
• Ribcage encloses the lungs and diaphragm.
• Alveoli in lungs provide large surface area for exchange of gases.
Physiology of Respiration
• Inhalation and Exhalation are controlled by inter coastal muscles which are attached to
diaphragm and ribs
Inhalation
• Dome – shaped diaphragm contracts and flattens.
• Rib – Cage expands
• Volume of lungs increases.
Exhalation
• Diaphragm relaxes and chest cavity contracts.
• Rib cage contracts
• Volume of lungs decreases
The concentration of oxygen increases in the alveoli
Cellular Respiration
• It is a set of metabolic reactions occurring inside the cells to convert Biochemical energy
(food) into chemical compound called Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP)
Metabolism
(It refers to a set of chemical reactions carried out for maintaining the living state of the cells of
an organism.)

Catabolism Anabolism
Breaking of Synthesizing
molecules to obtain compounds required
energy by the cells.

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Hence, Respiration is a Catabolic process. Large molecules are broken down into smaller ones.
Glycolysis, Krebs cycle and electron transport chain are important processes of the cellular
respiration.

Aerobic Respiration
Glucose is converted into energy in the presence of oxygen
Glucose + oxygen ⎯⎯ → CO2 + Water + Energy
eg. takes place in animals, plants & other living organisms.
Respiration in other animals
• Lower animals lack lungs, alveoli etc.
• Animals like earthworms take in gases through their skin.
• Fishes have gills.
• Insects have a tracheal system
• Frogs breathe through skin when in water & lungs when on land.
Respiration in Muscles
• In can be anaerobic when there is not enough oxygen.
• Glucose ⎯⎯ → CO2 + Lactic acid.
• Lactic acid makes muscle sore.
• It is known as Lactic acid fermentation.

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ATP (Adenosine Tri Phosphate)
• Energy currency of the cell.
• It has three phosphate Bonds. When these bonds are broken, a large amount of energy is
released.
• The energy produced is used for other metabolic reactions.

Respiration in Plants
• No special structures for gaseous exchange.
• They have stomata and lenticels for the exchange of gases
• Respiration rate in plants is very low.
Transpiration
• The loss of water in the form of water vapour from the aerial parts of the plant is called as
Transpiration.
• A kidney shaped cells called stomata are present on the leaf surface which helps in
exchange of gases.
• It helps in transportation of water from roots to upper parts of plants.
• It also helps plants to get rid of excess water.
Respiration in other animals
• In amoeba, exchange of gases takes place body surface.
• In earthworms, amphibians, annelids, exchange of gases place through their moist skin
(Cutaneous Respiration)
• In some amphibians, reptiles birds & mammals exchange of gases takes place through
lungs. (Pulmonary Respiration)
• In insects, small holes called spiracles leads to a tracheal network, where exchange of gases
take place.
• In humans, diffusion will not be able to supply oxygen to deep-seated cells. There are lungs
which have alveoli. Alveoli helps in exchange of gases by increasing the surface area.
• Transportation in humans is done by Circulatory system.
• It consists of Blood, Blood Vessels, and heart.
• Responsible for Oxygen supply, nutrients, removal of CO2 and other excretory products.
• Fight the infections.
Circulatory system consists of
• Blood & Lymph
• Blood Vessels (Arteries, Veins & Capillaries)
• Heart
Blood – made up of elements and plasma
[45%] [55%]

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Elements
RBCs - contain Haemoglobin, which carries Oxygen.
WBCs - produce Antibodies, which provide Immunity.
Platelets - help in blood clotting and coagulation of blood.
Plasma
- 90% water
- 10% proteins like globulin, fibrinogen, glucose, enzymes, hormones etc.
Blood Vessels
ARTERIES VEINS
1 Carry oxygenated blood from heart to 1 Carry oxygenated blood from different
different part except Pulmonary artery. body parts to heart except Pulmonary
Vein.
2 Have rigid walls. 2 Have thinner walls.
3 Blood flows under pressure through an 3 Blood flows through vein is much calmer.
artery.
4 Lumen of arteries is narrow. 4 Lumen is wider.
5 Have no values 5 Have values

• Gaseous exchange takes place between blood and cells at capillaries.

• The covering of heart is a double membranous layer, called as Pericardium.

• It is located near the chest cavity slightly towards the left in the thoracic region.
• It is the main pumping organ.
• Has 4 chambers involved in the transportation of Oxygenated & Deoxygenated blood.
• Upper 2 chambers are called Atria.
• Lower 2 chambers are called Ventricles.
‘Blood Pressure’
The blood pressure exerted by the blood when it flows through the blood vessels is called Blood
pressure.
Diastolic Pressure

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The pressure exerted on the walls of arteries when the auricles are filling with blood is called
Diastolic pressure.
It does not put much pressure on arteries.
The normal range of diastolic blood pressure should be 60-80 mm Hg.
Systolic Pressure
The pressure exerted on the walls of arteries when the heart is pumping the blood is called.
Systolic pressure.
It puts the maximum pressure on arteries.
The normal range of systolic blood pressure should be 90-120 mm Hg
Double Circulation
In the human body, blood circulates through the heart twice.
Systemic Circulation

Pulmonary Vein ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯→

Oxygenated blood
Left auricle → Left Ventricle → Aorta → Body tissue
Pulmonary Circulation
Deoxygenated blood→Vena cave → Right auricles→ Right Ventricle→ Pulmonary artery→
lungs
• Heart receives deoxygenated blood and sends it to lungs for Oxygenation.
• Oxygenated blood from lungs comes back to heart. From the heart, Oxygenated blood is
distributed to all parts of the body.
• Since, blood passes twice from the heart, it is called Double Circulation.
Q. Which one of the following statements is correct about the human circulatory system?
(a) Blood transports only oxygen and not carbon dioxide.
(b) Human heart has five chambers.
(c) Valves ensure that the blood does not flow backwards.
(d) Both oxygen – rich and oxygen – deficient blood gets mixed in the heart. (2020)
Ans. (c) Valves ensure that the blood does not flow backwards.
Lymph
• A light yellow fluid which contains lymphocytes (a type of white Blood cells), Which fight
against infection.

Transportation in Plants
• Transportation of water, nutrients and food takes place in plants for their survival.
• Xylem tissue transports water & minerals.
• Phloem tissue transports food.
Phloem
• Responsible for translocation of nutrients and sugar like carbohydrates, produced by the
leaves to other parts of the plant.
• Has 4 components

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 → Sieve Tubes
→ Companion cells
→ Phloem fibres
→ Phloem parenchyma
• Flow of material through phloem is Bidirectional.
Translocation
• Transport of food in the plant through phloem via a process such as mass flow is called as
Translocation.
•

• Responsible for transportation of water in plants from roots to other parts of the plant.
• Has 4 components
− Tracheid’s
− Vessels
− Xylem fibres
− Xylem Parenchyma
• Flow of water in unidirectional.
Xylem Phloem
1 It transports water and minerals from 1 It transports nutrients and food like
roots to upper minerals from roots to amino acids, sugar from leaves to
upper parts of the plant. growing parts of the plant.
2 Movement is Unidirectional. 2 Movement is bidirectional.
3 Has 4 components. 3 Has 4 components
• Xylem Parenchyma (living) • Companion cell (living)
• Xylem Sclerenchyma (dead) • Phloem Parenchyma(living)
• Tracheid (dead) • Sieve tubes(living)
• Vessels (dead) • Phloem fibres(dead)

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Ascent of Sap
• The upward movement of water from roots to the top of the plant.
• Tracheid & Vessels transport water & minerals, mainly.
Transpiration
• Leaves evaporate large amount of water through stomata which generates a transpiration
pull & water is transported upwards.
Q. Explain giving any three reasons the significance of transpiration in plants.
(Board Term I, 2014)
Ans. Significance of transpiration in plants:
(i) The absorbed water is transported from roots to leaves through xylem vessels which is
greatly influenced by transpiration pull.
(ii) The water stream moving upwards carries dissolved minerals with it. Transpiration
also helps in distributing these minerals throughout the plant.
(iii) The evaporation of water during transpiration provide cooling effect to the leaves.
Osmosis
Root hair absorb water & minerals and transport it to cortex → endodermis → xylem elements.
Excretion
The process of removal of metabolic waste material and other non-useful substances.
Egestion – The removal of undigested solid food in the form of faeces, is called Egestion.
Major Excretory Products
1. Nitrogenous waste
Ammonia → in aquatic animals, fishes, tadpoles
Urea → in cartilaginous fishes, amphibians and mammals
Uric acid → in insects, reptiles & birds.
2. CO2
3. Bile pigments
4. Water, Salts, Hormones, Vitamins
Excretory unit or organs in different animals
Amoeba - Contractile vacuole
Worms - Flame cells
Earthworms - Nephridia
Insects - Malpighian tubule
Excretory system in Humans

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Kidneys
Kidneys are the main excretory organs of the body.
Each kidney is made up of many tiny filtration units called Nephrons.
Function of kidneys
• Filtering waste materials, medications, & toxic substances from the blood.
• Regulation of osmolarity
• Regulation of ion concentration in the body.
• Regulation of pH.
Nephron
Nephrons are the structural and functional unit of kidney.
• There are millions of nephrons in kidney.
• Each nephron has two parts
→ Malpighian body
→ Renal tubule
• Malpighian body is made up of cup-like structure called Bowman’s capsule which has bunch
of capillaries called Glomerulus.
• Renal tubule includes Proximal Convoluted Tubule, Loop of Henle and Distal Convoluted
Tubule.
Regulation of amount of Urine
Blood contains large amount of water, metabolic wastes like urea, uric acid and many useful
substances such as Glucose, amino acids, salts etc.
The useful substances are reabsorbed in the nephron.
They maintain the right amount of water and ions in the body is called Osmoregulation.
Haemodialysis
• When the kidneys fail to remove waste from the blood, it can cause a lot of complications.
Waste gets accumulated in the blood resulting in toxicity.
• In such cases, it uses a machine filter called a dialyzer or artificial kidney.
• It removes 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.
• Blood cells, protein and other important things remain in your blood because they are too
big to pass through the membrane.
• Smaller waste products in the blood, such as used, potassium and extra fluid pass through
the membrane and are washed way.
• Usually done 3 times per week for about 4 hrs. at a time.
Excretion in Plants
In plants, products like CO2, excess water and some nitrogenous compounds are the major
excretory products
• They also produce two gaseous waste products i.e. oxygen during photosynthesis and Carbon
dioxide during respiration.

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• Other excretory products are gums, oils, later, resins etc.
Through stomata (in leaves) and lenticels (in stems)
Gaseous waste (O2, CO2 & water vapour) are removed through stomata of leaves and lenticels of
stems.
By Shedding
Wastes are also eliminated by shedding the leaves and old branches.

Notes End

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 Some Important NCERT Questions
Q. Mention the raw materials required for photosynthesis. (Board Term I, 2016)
Ans. Raw materials required for photosynthesis are carbon dioxide (CO2), water, light and
chloroplast.
Q. State the location and function of gastric glands. (Board Term I, 2014)
Ans. Gastrifc glands are present in the wall of the stomach. They secrete gastric juices
containing mucus, protein digesting enzymes pepsin, rennin and hydrochloric acid
(HCl).
Q. Name the glands present in the wall of the stomach that release secretions for digestion
of food. Write the three components of secretion that are released by these glands.
(Board Term I, 2014)
Ans. Stomach’s muscular wall contains gastric glands. These glands secrete gastric juices
which contain dilute hydrochloric acid, mucus and two protein digesting enzymes
rennin and pepsin.
Q. Explain the significance of photosynthesis. Writd the balanced chemical equation
involved in the process. (Board Term I, 2017)
Ans. Photosynthesis is important for a number of reasons:
(i) Food : By photosynthesis, green plants synthesise food from simple raw materials
like CO2 and H2O. Thus, it sustains life on earth.
(ii) Oxygen : Oxygen released during the process of photosynthesis is needed by
animals and humans for respiration. It is also required for respiration of microbes.
Oxygen also supports combustion of fuels.
(iii) Fuels : Fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas are forms of stored solar energy
synthesised millions of years ago through photosynthesis.
Q. Explain with the help of neat and well labelled diagrams the different steps involved in
nutrition in Amoeba. (Board Term I, 2015)
Ans. The mode of nutrition in Amoeba is holozoic. The process of obtaining food by Amoeba
is called phagocytosis.
1. Amoeba ingests food by using its finger-like projections called pseudopodia.
2. The food is engulfed with a little surrounding water to form a food vacuole inside
the Amoeba. The food is digested inside food vacuole by digestive enzymes.
3. Food is absorbed directly into the cytoplasm of Amoeba by diffusion.
4. Food is used to obtain energy and growth of Amoeba.
5. When considerable amount of undigested food collects inside Amoeba then its cell
membrane ruptures at any place to throw out this undigested food.

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Q. (a) What is peristaltic movement?
(b) ‘Stomata remain closed in desert plants during daytime’. How do they do
photosynthesis? (Board Term I, 2013)
Ans. (a) The relaxation of gut muscles to move the partially digested food downwards
throughout the alimentary canal is called peristaltic movement.
(b) In desert plants, stomata open at night and take in carbon dioxide (CO2). Stomata
remain closed during daytime to prevent the loss of water by transpiration. They store
the CO2 in their cells until the sun comes out so that they can carry on with
photosynthesis during the daytime.
Q. Diffusion is insufficient to meet the oxygen requirement of multicellular organisms like
human. State reason. (Board Term 1,2017)
Ans. Due to higher metabolic rate and the volume of human body is so large that oxygen
cannot diffuse into all cells of the body quickly as oxygen will have to travel large
distances to reach each and every cell. So diffusion is insufficient to meet the oxygen
demand of multicellular organisms.
Q. Define translocation in reference to plants. (Board Term I, 2016)
Ans. The transport of food prepared in the leaves, by the process of photosynthesis, to
various parts (roots, stem, branches, etc.) of the plant is called translocation.
Q. Write three types of blood vessels. Give one important feature of each. (Delhi 2019)
Ans. The three types of blood vessels in human body are: (i) arteries, (ii) veins and (iii)
capillaries.
(i) Arteries are the blood vessels which carry blood from heart to various parts of the
body. The walls of arteries are thick, elastic and muscular that enables them to dilate but
not rupture when the heart contracts and forces blood into them.

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 (ii) Veins are thin walled blood vessels which bring blood from the body back to the
heart. They are larger and hold more blood than the arteries. The lumen of veins are
provided with valves to prevent the backflow of blood.
(iii) Capillaries are thin walled and extremely narrow blood vessels which occur at the
terminals of artery and vein. The wall of capillaries are permeable to water and
dissolved substances so that the exchange of materials between the blood and body cells
can take place.
Q. Explain giving any three reasons the significance of transpiration in plants.
(Board Term I, 2014)
Ans. Significance of transpiration in plants:
(i) The absorbed water is transported from roots to leaves through xylem vessels which
is greatly influenced by transpiration pull.
(ii) The water stream moving upwards carries dissolved minerals with it. Transpiration
also helps in distributing these minerals throughout the plant.
(iii) The evaporation of water during transpiration provide cooling effect to the leaves.

Ab Phod Do!

APNI KAKSHA 18