Which term would you use for any living thing, including animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms?

Which term would you use for any living thing, including animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms?

• A. Organism
• B. Fungus
• C. Hypha
• D. Grub

Answer: (A)

An organism is any living being, from a single-celled bacterium to a blue whale. It’s the broad label that covers animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms, because it refers to an individual life form capable of basic life processes like growth, reproduction, metabolism, and response to the environment. The other terms are more specific: a fungus is a particular type of organism; a hypha is a filamentous structure of a fungus; a grub is a larval stage of certain insects. So the term that encompasses all living things is organism.

An organism is any living being, from a single-celled bacterium to a blue whale. It’s the broad label that covers animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms, because it refers to an individual life form capable of basic life processes like growth, reproduction, metabolism, and response to the environment. The other terms are more specific: a fungus is a particular type of organism; a hypha is a filamentous structure of a fungus; a grub is a larval stage of certain insects. So the term that encompasses all living things is organism.