Living beings grow and develop. Each organism starts its journey with a single cell. Gradually, tissues and organs are formed. The growth and development of living organisms is not the same thing. Growth is an increase in size and weight. But living organisms also go through a number of transformations, which include the process of development.
Think about a newborn baby. He has all the features of an adult, but very tiny. After many years, children become larger and gradually become the same adults. This process is the growth or increase in the size and mass of living organisms. But the little child was once a single cell, which later turned into a zygote, then into a fetus, and then into a tiny baby.
In some organisms, growth is associated with a radicaltransformation. Take, for example, a butterfly. It begins its journey as a larva, then turns into a caterpillar, then into a chrysalis, from which a beautiful butterfly flies out. All living beings grow and develop.
Thus, plants originate from seeds andturn into a large tree, a flower or a bush. Some organisms in the process of growth retain an external resemblance to their parents, and some may have some minor changes - it all depends on genetics.
These two concepts sometimes act as interchangeable, but nevertheless growth and development of living organisms describeseparate events in the organization of growing up. Development is a progression from earlier to later stages of maturation, for example, the seed develops into a mature tree. It is a process in which tissues, organs and whole plants are formed. It includes growth, morphogenesis (the acquisition of form and structure) and differentiation. The interaction of the environment and the genetic instructions inherited by the cells determine how the particular organism will develop.
Growth is not just an increase in size and weightliving organisms, it is also an irreversible change in the size of cells and organs due to their division and expansion. It happens that after reaching a certain stage, this process slows down or stops, but sometimes the cells continue to divide endlessly (this applies more to plants).
Plants are different from animals in their growth. So, as the young animals grow older, all parts of their bodies grow until they reach a genetically determined size for each species. The growth of plants, on the other hand, continues throughout life and is limited only to certain meristems.
Increase in size and weight of living organismscan be measured from the point of view of biomass, that is, determining the amount of organic material with the exception of water. The body grows by dividing the mitotic cells (mitosis). This process is accompanied by an increase in cell size. Therefore, increasing the size and weight of living organisms - their growth - is one of the main signs of all living organisms, along with the presence of metabolism, the ability to respond to irritation, movement, reproduction, and so on.
