What do you understand by the life cycle of a living organism?
Answers
Definition of a Life Cycle
Can you imagine if humans were born as full grown adults? Thankfully, we are born as infants and slowly go through stages before reaching adulthood. These stages are called a life cycle. A life cycle is defined as the developmental stages that occur during an organism's lifetime. A life cycle ends when an organism dies.
In general, plants and animals go through three basic stages in their life cycles, starting as a fertilized egg or seed, developing into an immature juvenile, and then finally transforming into an adult. During the adult stage, an organism will reproduce, giving rise to the next generation.
A life cycle can be comprised of more than the three basic stages depending on the species. For example, the human life cycle is comprised of 5 main stages. The names of each stage can also vary slightly depending on the species. For example, an immature juvenile dragonfly is called a nymph.
The time an organism spends at each stage can differ. For example, one species of cicada can spend 17 years as an immature nymph. That is about the age we are when we graduate high school! Then once the cicada reaches adulthood, it only lives about 24 hours before it dies. Other organisms spend more time as adults. For example, elephants reach maturity after 15 years and then spend over 30 years as an adult.
A life cycle is defined as the developmental stages that occur during an organism's lifetime. A life cycle ends when an organism dies. ... During the adult stage, an organism will reproduce, giving rise to the next generation. A life cycle can be comprised of more than the three basic stages depending on the species