BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Aristotle was the earliest to attempt a more scientific basis for classification. //10
2. He used simple morphological characters to classify plants into trees, shrubs and herbs and
animals into two groups, those which had red blood and those that did not. //10
3. In Linnaeus' time a Two Kingdom system of classification with Plantae and Animalia kingdoms was
developed that included all plants and animals. //10
4. Classification systems for the living organisms have hence, undergone several changes over the
time. //10
5. R.H. Whittaker (1969) proposed a Five Kingdom Classification. //11

6. The kingdoms defined by him were named Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia. //11
7. The main criteria for classification used by him include cell structure, body organisation, mode of
nutrition, reproduction and phylogenetic relationships. //11
8. The three-domain system divides the Kingdom Monera into two domains, leaving the remaining
eukaryotic kingdoms in the third domain and thereby a six kingdom classification. //11
9. All prokaryotic organisms were grouped together under Kingdom Monera and the unicellular
eukaryotic organisms were placed in Kingdom Protista. //12
10. It has put together organisms which, in earlier classifications, were placed in different
kingdoms. //12
11. Over time, an attempt has been made to evolve a classification system which reflects not only
the morphological, physiological and reproductive similarities, but is also phylogenetic, i.e., is based
on evolutionary relationships. //12
12. Bacteria are the sole members of the Kingdom Monera. //12
13. They are the most abundant micro-organisms. //12
14. Bacteria occur almost everywhere. Hundreds of bacteria are present in a handful of soil. //12
15. They also live in extreme habitats such as hot springs, deserts, snow and deep oceans where
very few other life forms can survive. //12
16. Many of them live in or on other organisms as parasites. //12
17. Bacteria are grouped under four categories based on their shape: spherical Coccus , rod-shaped
Bacillus ,comma-shaped Vibrium and spiral Spirillum . //12

18. Though the bacterial structure is very simple, they are very complex in behaviour. //13
19. Compared to many other organisms, bacteria as a group show the most extensive metabolic
diversity. //13
20. Some of the bacteria are autotrophic, i.e., they synthesise their own food from inorganic
substrates. //13
21. They may be photosynthetic autotrophic or chemosynthetic autotrophic. //13
22. The vast majority of bacteria are heterotrophs, i.e., they depend on other organisms or on dead
organic matter for food. //13
23. archaebacteria are special since they live in some of the most harsh habitats such as extreme
salty areas (halophiles), hot springs (thermoacidophiles) and marshy areas (methanogens). //13
24. Archaebacteria differ from other bacteria in having a different cell wall structure and this
feature is responsible for their survival in extreme conditions. //13
25. Methanogens are present in the gut of several ruminant animals such as cows and buffaloes and
they are responsible for the production of methane (biogas). //13
26. There are thousands of different eubacteria or ‘true bacteria’. They are characterised by the
presence of a rigid cell wall, and if motile, a flagellum. flagellum. //13
27. The cyanobacteria (also referred to as blue-green algae) have chlorophyll a similar to green
plants and are photosynthetic autotrophs. //13
28. The cyanobacteria are unicellular, colonial or filamentous, freshwater/marine or terrestrial
algae. //13
29. The colonies are generally surrounded by gelatinous sheath. //13
30. They often form blooms in polluted water bodies. //13
31. Some of these organisms can fix atmospheric nitrogen in specialised cells called heterocysts,
e.g., Nostoc and Anabaena. //13
32. Chemosynthetic autotrophic bacteria oxidise various inorganic substances such as nitrates,
nitrites and ammonia and use the released energy for their ATP production. //13
33. They play a great role in recycling nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorous, iron and sulphur. //13
34. Heterotrophic bacteria are most abundant in nature. //13
35. The majority are important decomposers. //13
36. Many of them have a significant impact on human affairs. They are helpful in making curd from
milk, production of antibiotics, fixing nitrogen in legume roots, etc. //13
37. Cholera, typhoid, tetanus, citrus canker are well known diseases caused by different bacteria.
//14
38. Bacteria reproduce mainly by fission. //14
39. Sometimes, under unfavourable conditions, they produce spores. //14
40. They also reproduce by a sort of sexual reproduction by adopting a primitive type of DNA
transfer from one bacterium to the other. //14
41. Mycoplasma are organisms that completely lack a cell wall. //14
42. they are the smallest living cells known and can survive without oxygen. //14
43. many mycoplasma are pathogenic in plants and animals. //14
44. All single-celled eukaryotes are placed under Protista, but the boundaries of this kingdom are
not well defined. //14
45. we include Chrysophytes, Dinoflagellates, Euglenoids, Slime moulds and Protozoans under
Protista. //14
46. Members of Protista are primarily aquatic. //14
47. This kingdom forms a link with the others dealing with plants, animals and fungi. //14
48. Being eukaryotes, the protistan cell body contains a well defined nucleus and other membrane-
bound organelles. //15
49. Some have flagella or cilia. //14
50. Protists reproduce asexually and sexually by a process involving cell fusion and zygote
formation. //14
51. Chrysophytes includes diatoms and golden algae (desmids). //14
52. They are found in fresh water as well as in marine environments. They are microscopic and float
passively in water currents (plankton). //14
53. Most of them are photosynthetic. //14
54. In diatoms the cell walls form two thin overlapping shells, which fit together as in a soap box.
//14
55. The walls are embedded with silica and thus the walls are indestructible. //14
56. Thus, diatoms have left behind large amount of cell wall deposits in their habitat; this
accumulation over billions of years is referred to as ‘diatomaceous earth’. //14
57. Being gritty this soil is used in polishing, filtration of oils and syrups. Diatoms are the chief
‘producers’ in the oceans. //14
58. Dinoflagellates are mostly marine and photosynthetic. //15
59. They appear yellow, green, brown, blue or red depending on the main pigments present in their
cells. //15
60. The cell wall has stiff cellulose plates on the outer surface. //15
61. Most of them have two flagella; one lies longitudinally and the other transversely in a furrow
between the wall plates. //15
62. Very often, red dinoflagellates (Eg. Gonyaulax) undergo such rapid multiplication that they make
the sea appear red (red tides). //15
63. Toxins released by such large numbers may even kill other marine animals such as fishes. //15
64. Euglenoids - Majority of them are fresh water organisms found in stagnant water. Instead of a
cell wall, they have a protein rich layer called pellicle which makes their body flexible. //15
65. They have two flagella, a short and a long one. //15
66. Though they are photosynthetic in the presence of sunlight, when deprived of sunlight they
behave like heterotrophs by predating on other smaller organisms. //15
67. the pigments of euglenoids are identical to those present in higher plants. Eg : Euglena. //15
68. Slime moulds are saprophytic protists. //15
69. The body moves along decaying twigs and leaves engulfing organic material. //15
70. Under suitable conditions, they form an aggregation called plasmodium which may grow and
spread over several feet. //15
71. During unfavourable conditions, the plasmodium differentiates and forms fruiting bodies bearing
spores at their tips. //15
72. The spores possess true walls. They are extremely resistant and survive for many years, even
under adverse conditions. //15
73. The spores are dispersed by air currents. //15
74. All protozoans are heterotrophs and live as predators or parasites. //15
75. They are believed to be primitive relatives of animals. //15
76. There are four major groups of protozoans. //15
77. Amoeboid protozoans - Entamoeba //16
78. Flagellated protozoans - The parasitic forms cause diaseases such as sleeping sickness
eg.Trypanosoma. //16
79. Ciliated protozoans - paramoecium //16
80. Sporozoans -Plasmodium (malarial parasite) which causes malaria. //1