Which term describes a living thing that can carry out life processes independently?

• A. Cells
• B. Tissues
• C. Organ System
• D. Organism

Answer: (D)

The idea here is what defines a complete living unit that can carry out life processes on its own. An organism is a living thing that can do metabolism, growth, response, reproduction, and maintain internal stability without needing another organism to function. This can be a single-celled creature, where one cell handles all life processes, or a multicellular creature, where many specialized cells work together as one functioning whole. In contrast, cells are the basic units of life, tissues are groups of cells performing a specific function, and organ systems are networks of organs; none of these alone describe a whole living thing capable of independent life processes. So the best term is organism.