INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE [IOS]
CHAPTER 2
BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION
2.1 Kingdom Monera
2.2 Kingdom Protista
2.3 Kingdom Fungi
2.4 Kingdom Plantae
2.5 Kingdom Animalia
2.6 Viruses, Viroids and Lichens
Biological Classification-
It is the scientific procedure of arranging organisms into groups and sub-groups on the basis
of their similarities and dissimilarities and placing the groups in a hierarchy of categories.
Need for Classification
[Link] is not possible to study every organism. The study of one or two organisms of a group
gives sufficient information about the essential features of the group.
[Link] any system of classification organisms can not be identified.
[Link] organisms of the past can not be studied without a proper system of classification.
[Link] helps in knowing the relationships amongst different groups of organisms.
Objectives-
[Link] identify and describe all the possible types of species.
[Link] arrange the species in various categories on the basis of their similarities and
dissimilarities.
[Link] in easy identification of organisms.
Type of Biological classification
1. Practical classification :- In this type of classification, plants are classified on the basis of
their economic importance or human use. This classification system is the earliest system.
e.g.
Oil yielding plants -Coconut, Walnut, Soyabean
Fibre yielding plants -Jute, Cotton
Medicinal plants -Rauwolfia, Cinchona, Eucalyptus.
Note : In this classification, any one plant can be a member of more than one group.
eg. Turmeric : Multi uses plant, it gives both medicines and spices.
2. Artificial classification :- In this type of classification plants are classified on the basis of
one or two morphological characters. i.e. over all morphology is not considered.
for e.g. - Classification proposed by Linnaeus is Artificial.
Linnaeus classified plant kingdom on the basis stamen (mainly) into 24 classes.
Note :
(1) In the book "Genera Plantarum" Linnaeus classified the plant kingdom into 24 classes on
the basis of stamen so, classification of Linnaeus is also called sexual classification.
(2) Linnaeus divided phanerogams (gymnosperm and angiosperms) into 23 classes and he
included other plants such as algae, fungi, mosses (bryophytes) and ferns (pteridophytes) in
a separate class called cryptogamia.
(3) In this system equal weightage is given to both vegetative and reproductive characters.
Aristotle divided animals into two categories-
Enaima- with red blood.
Anaima- without red blood.
Aristotle classified animals on the basis of their habitat-
Aquatic, Terrestrial, Areial.
Pliny the Elder classified animals and plants into-
Land Air Water.
Pliny distinguished animals –
Flight and Non-flight.
Linnaeus classified plants on the basis of numerical strength of sex organs into 24 classes.
3. Natural classification :- In this type, plants are classified on the basis of their complete
(gross) morphological characters of (stem, root, leaves, flowers etc.) cytological characters,
physiology, ontogeny or development, reproduction, cyto-chemistry and bio-chemistry etc.
Importance .
Natural classification is believed to be the best classification, because it represents the
natural similarities and dissimilarities of plants i.e. it represents the inter relationship among
plants.
In this classification, the plants belonging to the same group show many similarities, while in
artificial classification, the plants belonging to the same group shows only, 1 or 2 similar
characters. They have many dissimilarities also.
Natural classification is of two types
(a) Natural non phylogenetic
(b) Natural phylogenetic
(a) Natural non phylogenetic - In this classification, the phylogeny of the plant is not
considered i.e. only the grass morphology of the plant is considered.
(b) Natural phylogenetic -In this classification, both grass morphology and phylogeny are
considered. In phylogenetic classification, the plants are arranged on the basis of their
evolution.
Lamarck . Proposed the term phylogeny.
Charles Darwin . Gave detailed explanation of phylogeny in his book "Origin of species"
(1859).
Thallophyta -Bryophyta -Pteridophyta -Gymnosperm -Angiosperm (most advanced plants)
George Bentham (1800 - 1884) and Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817 - 1911) :-
They wrote the book "Genera plantarum" (1862 - 1883).
In this book, Bentham and Hooker gave the biggest and natural classification of
spermatophyta i.e. plants with seeds.
Division -Spermatophyta = 202 families
(3 classes)
Dicotyledonae Gymnospermae Monocotyledonae
(165 families) (3 families) (34 families)
[Link] system of classification-
Based on evolutionary relationships of organisms.
It is based on evolutionary concept from Darwin’s book-
On the origin of species by means of natural selection: the preservation of favoured races
in the struggle for life.
First phylogenetic system was proposed by Engler and Prantl.
[Link] classification-
It is a system of phylogenetic classification which is based on affinities, similarities, and
dissimilarities of characteristics present in the present day organisms without searching for
the evolution and diversification of these traits in their fossil ancestors.
Four branches of taxonomy-
[Link]
[Link]
[Link] taxonomy
[Link] taxonomy.
Depending upon the type of system of classification , organisms classified into –
[Link] kingdom classification-
All organisms had been classified into two groups- Kingdom Plantae and Kingdom Animalia
based on presence or absence of cell wall, this was done by Linnaeus.
[Link] kingdom classification-
Haeckel separated unicellular organisms from other organisms on the basis of lack of tissue
differentiation.
Kingdom- Protista, Plantae, Animilia.
3. Four kingdom classification-
Copeland create a separate kingdom of Monera for prokaryotic cells.
Kingdom- Monera, Protista, Plantae, Animalia.
4. R. H. Whittaker (1969) :-
R.H. whittaker (1969) proposed a five kingdom classification. The kingdoms defined by him
were named as Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia. The main criteria used by
him for making classification are :-
(i) Cell structure (Complexity of cell)
(ii) Thallus organisation (complexity of organism)/Body organization
(iii) Mode of nutrition
(iv) Reproduction/Life style
(v) Phylogenetic relationship
FIVE KINGDOM
1. Monera :- All the prokaryotes ® (Eubacteria, Rickettsia, Chlamydia, Actinomycetes,
BGA, Archaebacteria, Mycoplasma)
2. Protista :- All the Unicellular eukaryotes ® [Dinoflagellates (Fire algae),
Diatoms/Desmids (Golden algae), Euglenoids, Slime moulds (false fungi) and Protozoans]
3. Fungi :- All the True fungi ® (Phycomycetes, Ascomycetes, Basidiomycetes,
Deuteromycetes)
4. Plantae :- All the multicellular eukaryotic plants ® Algae [Green algae eg. Spirogyra,
Brown algae, Red algae], Bryophyta, Pteridophyta, Gymnosperm,Angiosperm
5. Animalia :- All the multicellular eukaryotic animals
Note : (i) In five kingdom classification Virus, Viroid, Prions and Lichens are not
mentioned.
(ii) According to five kingdom classification. Chlamydomonas and Chlorella are placed in
kingdom protista.
5. Carl Woese[1990] :- He gave three domain theory. In these three domain 6 kingdoms
are included. He suggested separate kingdom for Archaebacteria.
Organisms
On the basis of sequence of r-RNA
[Link]-Kingdom Archaebacteria
[Link]- Kingdom Monera
[Link]- Kingdom Protista Fungi Plantae Animalia
Note : Domain is a super kingdom category and extra taxonomic category.
Gram-positive organisms
Gram-positive bacteria have cell walls that contain thick layers of peptidoglycan, a
substance that forms the cell walls of many bacteria. The peptidoglycan forms about 90%
of the cell wall in gram-positive bacteria. This causes them to appear blue to purple under a
Gram stain.
Gram-positive organisms include:
Staphylococcus species.
Streptococcus species.
Corynebacterium species.
Clostridium species.
Listeria species.
Gram-negative organisms
Gram-negative bacteria have cell walls with thin layers of peptidoglycan (10% of the cell
wall) and high lipid (fatty acid) content. This causes them to appear red to pink under a
Gram stain.
Gram-negative organisms include:
Neisseria gonorrheae and Neisseria meningitides.
Moraxella species.
Escherichia coli (E. coli).
Pseudomonas species.
Proteus species.
Klebsiella species.