Meaning Of Growth:

a irreversible increase in body size, mass, & number of

cells in an organism
* Growth involves qualitative changes to cell & quantitive changes.
 Parameter In Measurement Of Growth

Length or height
Easily measured using a ruler
Does not destroy the organism
Does not show the actual growth of the organism
as an organism may be growing in diameter or
sideway.
Volume
Takes into consideration the length, width &
height.
Irregular shapes determination a
difficult task.
 Parameter In Measurement Of Growth
Fresh mass
Closely related to volume.
Easily determined using a weighing scale.
Does not destroy the organism
Not be an accurate changes with the
water content.
Dry mass
After all its water has been removed.
Shows the accurate measurement of growth
but involves the destruction of the organism
 Sigmoid Growth Curve Of An Organism
When growth parameter of an organism is plotted
against time, a growth curve is obtained

The pattern of growth is the same for most organisms

* The curve is S-shaped / sigmoid curve

The actual picture of growth of an organism is not complete

if only the increase in size is used.

The growth pattern of an organism is influenced by factors

such as changes in the :
- number of cells
- shape
- rate of cell growth
Lag phase
- the initial stage of growth
- growth rate is low
- Mitotic cell division occurs
rapidly but there is no
increase in the size of the cell

Exponential phase
-The highest growth rate
-Cells grow due to absorption of
water and the increase in
protoplasm

Slow Growth Phase

- Small growth rate
- Cells reached an optimum size & no increase in size will occur
again
- A bit of cell division will occur to replace dead / damaged cells
Stationary Phase
- Growth rate has reached zero
- Cell division still occurs to replace
damaged or dead cells

Senescence Phase
- Growth rate is negative
- body loses part of its
material when it becomes
old
- This stage ends with death
 The life of a human from birth to death can be divided into
5 phases that involve changes in size, form and features:

- infant phase
- childhood phase * The growth rate decreases in the middle of
- teenage phase the childhood phase
- adult phase
- senescenece phase
The Human Growth Curve

At the teenage phase ( sexual maturity ), the growth rate increses

again before decreasing when approaching adult phase

Adult phase,
- the growth of most parts of the body stops except skin, nails and
hair which keeps on growing until death
* At the senescene phase, growth becomes negative ( loss of body
weight ) until death
The Growth Patterns At Embryo, Foetus and Infant Stages
Growth curve of a man from embryo foetus
infant is a sigmoid curve
* ~ 5th month, foetal growth rate increases
exponentially
- cells in foetus differentiate rapidly to form specialised
cells, e.g muscle and nerve cells
After this period of time, less specialised cells are
formed & this causes the
growth rate to decrease
Differences Between The Growth Patterns
Of Males And Females
The Growth Curve Of Animals
Growth curve of a white mouse. the early part of the
graph has a sigmoid shape
* for some organism, e.g fish and crustacean, growth
continues even after the adult stage but at a slower
rate
* The pattern of growth of animals with exoskeletons like insects is
in the form of steps as ecdysis ( or moulting ) occurs a number of
times before these animals reach the adult stage
 *Growth curve of an annual plant ( e.g. maize plant )
can be obtained by measuring its dry mass

ate at
in
A-B
Weight of seed
decreases during
germination.
Food in cotyledons
is used for
e of
respiration
Stage BC
* Plant carries out photosynthesis Stage CD
weight increases due to food Growth rate slows
storage down when the plant
reaches maturity
*Growth curve of an annual plant ( e.g. maize plant )
can be obtained by measuring its dry mass
Stage DE
The rate of food is synthesised i= the rate at which
food is used, which results in zero growth

Stage EF
Weight decreases because photosynthesis
rate decreases
* At point F the plant dies
Intermitted Growth

ECDYSIS

For an insect, ecdysis takes

place each time it grows.

growth curve shape of

a staircase
 Insect growth
Discontinuous growth have hard & inelastic exoskeleton
limits growth

Need to shed their exoskeleton from time to time ecdysis.

Ecdysis :
new, soft exoskeleton grows beneath
take in a lot of air @ water to expand its body

old exoskeleton cracked

Insect swallows & retains air to inflate the new soft cuticle until
it hardens

growth takes place actively ,tissues builds to fill the spaces

Period between 2 ecdyses instar.