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4.1.2 Five kingdom system
Daniel Williamson
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1 Five kingdom system
This is the most common way of grouping living things based on simple distinctive characteristics. Classication systems are always changing as new information is made available. Modern technologies such as
electron microscopy make it possible to observe microscopic organisms in greater detail. The current system
was developed by Robert H. Whittaker in 1969 and was built on the work of previous biologists such as
Carolus Linnaeus. The highest grouping is called a kingdom.
Five kingdoms: http://www.tutorvista.com/content/biology/biology-iii/modern-classication /ve-kingdom-classication
1
Bug scope: Images of microscopic organisms http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/ 2
Neok12: Animals and wildlife videos http://www.neok12.com/Animals-Wildlife.htm 3
Encyclopedia of life: Images and explanations of terms http://eol.org/index 4
Living things can be classied into ve major kingdoms:
∗ Version
1.1: Feb 17, 2012 2:03 pm -0600
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1 http://www.tutorvista.com/content/biology/biology-iii/modern-classication/ve-kingdom-classication.php
2 http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/
3 http://www.neok12.com/Animals-Wildlife.htm
4 http://eol.org/index
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Figure 1
Kingdom Monera (Bacteria)
Kingdom Protista
Kingdom Fungi
Kingdom Plantae
Kingdom Animalia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uJ8QeFRvJA&feature=related 5 A video showing a brief summary
of the ve kingdoms
5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uJ8QeFRvJA&feature=related
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1.1 Distinctive Features of the ve kingdoms
1.1.1 Kingdom Monera
• Prokaryotic, unicellular.
• No nuclear membrane or membrane bound organelles such as
chloroplasts, Golgi complex, mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum.
• Have a cell wall made without cellulose.
• Reproduction is mainly asexual by binary ssion.
• Important examples: Archaea, cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), bacteria
Interesting fact: Bacteria are found everywhere and are the most numerous organisms on Earth. In a single
gram of soil, there are about 40 million bacterial cells. The human body also contains 10 times as many
bacterial cells as human cells!!
1.1.2 Kingdom Protista
• Eukaryotic, can be unicellular or simple multicellular.
• Reproduction can be asexual or sexual.
• Important examples: Plasmodium (causes malaria), amoeba, euglena
1.1.3 Kingdom Fungi
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•
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Eukaryotic, multicellular (some unicellular like yeasts).
Have a cell wall made of chitin.
Non-motile with long extensions called hyphae.
Nutrition is heterotrophic: important as decomposers (saprophytes), can be parasitic.
Store food as glycogen
Reproduction is by spore formation (both asexual and sexual).
Important examples: Mushrooms, Penicillium (a fungus which was used to make penicillin), bread
mould
http://blog.ted.com/2008/05/06/paul_stamets/ 6 A TED video on the many uses of Fungi
1.1.4 Kingdom Plantae
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Eukaryotic, multicellular.
Distinct cell wall made of cellulose.
Have plastids and photosynthetic pigments such as chlorophyll.
Non-motile.
6 http://blog.ted.com/2008/05/06/paul_stamets/
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• Nutrition is autotrophic (make their own food by photosynthesis).
• Sexual reproduction.
• Important examples: Green algae, mosses, ferns, conifers, owering plants.
1.1.5 Kingdom Animalia
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Eukaryotic and multicellular but have no cell wall or photosynthetic pigments
Mostly motile
Heterotrophic nutrition.
Sexual or vegetative (asexual) reproduction
Important examples: Porifera (sponges), Mammalia, Insects
Additional resource:
• Tree of life project: collaborative eort of biologists and nature enthusiasts from around the world
providing information about biodiversity, the characteristics of dierent groups of organisms, and their
evolutionary history ( phylogeny 7 ). Link: http://tolweb.org/tree/phylogeny.html 8
• ARKive project: For pictures and information on a wide range of life forms
• http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/ 9 : For high magnication pictures of insects using a scanning
electron microscope.
• http://www.neok12.com/Microorganisms.htm 10 : For interactive videos on microorganisms.
Pro jects and assignments:
1. Research one benecial and one harmful application of one member from each kingdom, with examples
from their use in South Africa. Students can be grouped into smaller groups and each one is given one
kingdom to research. (Use www.arkive.org 11 as a research tool for your favourite animal or plant or
http://bugscope.becnkman.uiuc.edu/ 12 for nice pictures of insects). Results can be presented in the form
of a poster.
2. Go to your nearest supermarket or garden and nd one representative organism for each kingdom.
Present this information by drawing diagrams.
7 http://tolweb.org/tree/learn/concepts/whatisphylogeny.html
8 http://tolweb.org/tree/phylogeny.html
9 http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/
10 http://www.neok12.com/Microorganisms.htm
11 http://www.arkive.org/
12 http://bugscope.becnkman.uiuc.edu/
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