A student places a healthy potted plant and a plastic straw in a closet for two weeks. After two weeks, the student observes that the plant is wilted and brown, while the plastic straw remains the same. The student classifies the plant as living and the plastic straw as nonliving,
What criteria does the student use to classify the plant as living rather than nonliving?
The plant needs energy from sunlight to make food for survival.
The plant produces pollen for reproduction of its species.
The plant generates sugars that are consumed as food by other organisms.
The plant produces offspring with characteristics similar to the parent plant

According to the experiment, the criteria used by the student to classify the plant as living rather than non-living is that plant needs energy from sunlight to make food for survival.

Explanation:

One of the characteristics that defines plants as living is their ability to perform functions proper to living beings, such as nutrition, growth, development and reproduction.

Plants are autotrophic organisms, capable of producing their own nutrients from sunlight, so they require this type of energy for their nutrition and survival.

The fact that the plant that remained in the closet for 2 weeks turned brown and wither demonstrates the need it has for sunlight, which is a valid criteria for considering it a living being, in comparison with the non-living object.

The other options are characteristics of plants as living beings, but they are not the criterion that demonstrates that plants are living beings, in accordance with the proposed scenario.