Organisms are highly ordered, and other characteristics of life emerge from this complex organization. Growth and Development. Heritable programs stored in DNA direct the species-specific pattern of growth and development. Organisms take in and transform energy to do work, including the maintenance of their ordered state. Response to Environment.
Organisms respond to stimuli from their environment.
Organisms regulate their internal environment to maintain a steady-state, even in the face of a fluctuating external environment. Life evolves in response to interactions between organisms and their environment. Because properties of life emerge from complex organization, it is impossible to fully explain a higher level of order by breaking it into its parts. The principle that a higher level of order cannot be meaningfully explained by examining component parts in isolation. An organism is a living whole greater than the sum of its parts.