[ **up: [[Biology]]** ]
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# Vital processes (Biology)
The processes necessary for an organism to live, and which shape an organism’s capacity for interacting with its environment.[^1]
**Regulation** **of biological processes** is when a process is modulated re. frequency, rate, or extent.[^1]
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## Examples of vital processes
- [[Homeostasis (Biology)]].
- [[Organisation (Biology)]]: ‘being structurally composed of one or more cells.’[^1]
- **Metabolism**: transformation of energy into cellular components (anabolism) and decomposing organic matter (catabolism).
- **Growth**: maintenance of a higher rate of anabolism than catabolism.
- **Response to stimuli**: can take many forms, but is often expressed by motion (e.g. plants turning towards the sun).
- **Interaction between organisms**: ‘the processes by which an organism has an observable effect on another organism of the same or different species.’[^1]
- **Cellular differentiation**
- **Fermentation**
- **Fertilisation**
- **Germination**
- **Hybridisation**
- **Tropism**
- **Metamorphosis**
- **Morphogenesis**
- **Photosynthesis**
- **Transpiration**
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- *See also:*
- [[Chemicals and the vital processes (Biology)]]
- [[Biological rhythms]]
[^1]: ‘Biological process’, *Wikipedia*, updated 15 May 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_process.