Five Kingdoms Classification Quiz

Five Kingdoms Classification

• Characterizes organisms based on cell type, cell wall composition, nuclear membrane presence, body organization, and mode of nutrition.
• Includes Monera (prokaryotic, unicellular), Protista (eukaryotic, unicellular/colonial), Fungi (eukaryotic, multicellular/loose tissue), Plantae (eukaryotic, multicellular, autotrophic), and Animalia (eukaryotic, multicellular, heterotrophic).

Kingdom Monera

• Comprises prokaryotic organisms like bacteria and cyanobacteria.
• Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) are unicellular, colonial, or filamentous, found in various environments, some fix atmospheric nitrogen (e.g., Nostoc, Anabaena).
• Chemosynthetic bacteria oxidize inorganic substances for energy, playing a role in nutrient cycling.
• Heterotrophic bacteria are abundant decomposers, some beneficial (e.g., curd production, antibiotic production), others pathogenic (e.g., causing cholera, typhoid, tetanus).
• Bacteria reproduce mainly by fission and can produce spores under stress, some exhibit primitive DNA transfer.
• Mycoplasma lack cell walls.

Kingdom Protista

• Dinoflagellates: mostly marine, photosynthetic, possess cellulose plates and two flagella, some cause red tides (Gonyaulax).
• Euglenoids: freshwater, flexible pellicle instead of cell wall, two flagella, photosynthetic in sunlight, heterotrophic in darkness, pigments similar to higher plants (Euglena).
• Slime molds: saprophytic, move along decaying matter forming plasmodium, form fruiting bodies with spores under stress.
• Protozoans: heterotrophic, predators or parasites, considered primitive animal relatives.

Kingdom Fungi

• Deuteromycetes: reproduce asexually by conidia, septate and branched mycelium, saprophytes, parasites, or decomposers (Alternaria, Colletotrichum, Trichoderma). Note that once sexual stages were discovered, many were reclassified into Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes.

Kingdom Plantae

• Includes eukaryotic, chlorophyll-containing organisms (plants).
• Some are partially heterotrophic (insectivorous plants like Bladderwort and Venus fly trap, or parasites like Cuscuta).
• Plant cells have eukaryotic structure with chloroplasts and cellulose cell walls.
• Includes algae, bryophytes, pteridophytes, gymnosperms, and angiosperms.
• Exhibit alternation of generations (diploid sporophyte and haploid gametophyte phases).

Kingdom Animalia

• Heterotrophic, multicellular eukaryotes lacking cell walls.
• Depend on plants for food, digest food internally, store food as glycogen or fat.
• Holozoic nutrition (ingestion), definite growth pattern, and shape.
• Higher forms have sensory and neuromotor mechanisms, most are capable of locomotion.
• Sexual reproduction with copulation and embryological development.

Acellular Organisms

• Viruses: non-cellular, inert crystalline structure outside host cells, infect cells to replicate, considered non-living by some. (Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV), Bacteriophage).
• Viroids and prions are also mentioned, but not detailed.
• Lichens are not explicitly detailed in the five kingdom classification.