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Life Kingdoms - Q&A Review
1. What is the Biology field that studies the classification of living beings? The Biology field that studies the classification of living beings is called Taxonomy. 2. Into which categories are living beings classified? Living beings are classified, from the broader to the more particular category, into kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species (KPCOFGS can be used as mnemonic). Kingdom is the broadest category and the others in sequence are encompassed by the previous one. 3. What is meant by binomial nomenclature and what are its basic rules? Scientific nomenclature of a species must have, at least, two names: one that classifies it as genus and the other that identifies it as species. The name related to genus is the first and must begin in uppercase, the other following names must be written in lowercase. Besides this rule, scientific names of species must stand out and be written either in italics or underlined or still bolded or between quotation marks. For example, the scientific name of the human species is "Homo sapiens", indicating that it belongs to the genus Homo. Scientific nomenclature of species is important because it universalizes the way to refer to a species making it easier for people of different languages and cultures to understand each other. Same species that have very different names in different regions of the planet can be identified easily by their scientific binomial name. 4. What are the five kingdoms into which living beings are divided? Which group of living being is out of this classification? The five kingdoms of living beings are the kingdom Monera, the kingdom Protista, the kingdom Fungi, the kingdom Plantae and the kingdom Animalia. (Kingdom Monera, includes bacteria, blue-green algae) Viruses are out of this classification and sometimes they are said to belong to their own kingdom, the kingdom Virus. 5. According to cellular organization how are living beings divided into two groups? Cellular beings are divided into two groups: the prokaryotes, unicellular beings whose sole cell does not have a delimited nucleus, and eukaryotes, uni or multicellular beings with cells having delimited nucleus. 6. Which are the beings that constitute the kingdom Monera? The kingdom Monera is the kingdom of the prokaryotes, composed of bacteria and archaebacteria. 7. Which are the beings that form the kingdom Protista? The kingdom Protista comprises protozoans and algae. 8. Which are the beings that form the kingdom Fungi? The kingdom Fungi is formed by fungi. 9. Which are the beings that form the kingdom Plantae? Are algae part of this kingdom? The kingdom Plantae is composed of plants. Algae are classified into the kingdom Protista and not into the kingdom Plantae (they are not plants). 10. Which are the beings that form the kingdom Animalia? What are the two big groups into which this kingdom is divided? The kingdom Animalia is the animal kingdom. Commonly the kingdom Animalia is subdivided into invertebrates and vertebrates. 11. What are the nine phyla of the kingdom Animalia? The nine phyla of the animal kingdom are: Porifera (poriferans), Cnidaria (cnidarians), Platyhelminthes (flatworms), Nematoda (roundworms), Annelida (annelids), Mollusca (molluscs), Arthropoda (arthropods), Echinodermata (echinoderms) and Chordata (chordates). 12. What are the two mains divisions of the chordate phylum? Chordates are divided into protochordates (cephalochordates and urochordates) and vertebrates. 13. What are the differences between vertebrates and the other chordates? Vertebrates are different because they have a spinal column (vertebral column). In these animals the notochord of the embryonic stage is substituted by the vertebral column in adults. 14. What are the five classes of vertebrates? To which of these do human beings belong? The five classes of vertebrates are: fishes (osteichthyes and chondrichthyes), amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Humans classify as mammals. 15. What is an evolutionary tree? Is there a precise evolutionary tree known by science that explains the emergence and origin of every type of living being? Evolutionary tree is the pictorial and schematic representation of evolutionary relations among species of living beings in which the trunk (or a preceding branch) represents common ascendants of species and groups of living beings that are distributed along its branches according to hypothesis on their origin. For example, today it is admitted that birds and mammals are two distinct branches of the same preceding reptile branch. Biology cannot assures a definite evolutionary tree (phylogeny) on the species of living beings that live or have lived in our planet. There are many data to be discovered and many knowledge gaps to be filled. One of the most promising methods to study phylogeny is the comparison of DNA molecules from different groups of living beings researching similarities and differences in nucleotide sequences that may indicate more or less relatedness among species. |