Final answer:
A wooden desk, made from a tree, only retains the property of response to stimuli among the characteristics of life; however, this response is not biological but physical, such as thermal expansion.
Step-by-step explanation:
When considering the properties of life that a once-living tree, now a wooden desk exhibits, it would be a response to stimuli. The desk was made from a tree that once could respond to its environment, a fundamental characteristic of living organisms. However, after being converted into a desk, it retains no living cells and thus does not exhibit growth, reproduction, or metabolism, which are vital functions of life. The tree, in its living state, had cells and complex chemistry that allowed it to grow and develop, maintain a constant internal environment (homeostasis), and reproduce. Although the desk can no longer fulfill these criteria, it can arguably still respond to physical stimuli, like heat, which may cause it to expand, although this is not an active biological response.