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There are millions of living species on our planet, but did you even know that they are divided into five kingdoms? Some may be seen with the naked eye, including animals and plants, while others, such as bacteria, necessitate the use of a microscope. Let’s take a closer look at the five natural kingdoms and learn more about them.
Whitaker recommended categorizing creatures into kingdoms based on characteristics such as cell structure, manner of nutrition, source of nutrition, interrelationship, body organization, and reproduction. This system divides the world into five kingdoms. The classification hierarchy is depicted below.
Kingdom → Phylum → Class → Order → Family → Genus → Species
Biological Kingdoms System
The biological kingdoms approach is a scientific classification system that classifies living things according to their evolutionary history. This means that all of the organisms that make up these five big groups – some newer proposals subdivide them farther into six or possibly seven – share common ancestors and thus share certain genes and are related.
Other taxonomic groups under the same categorization system include domain, order, family, phylum, class, genus, and species, in addition to the kingdoms of living things. They are all organized in a hierarchical sequence and are interdependent, thus some divisions incorporate others. The kingdom is included in the domain, the kingdom is included in the phylum, and the phylum is included in the class.
Characteristics of The Five Kingdoms of Living Things
In terms of growth and function, all species in a kingdom have comparable traits
Nutrition – The species can be either autotrophic (it makes its very own food) or heterotrophic (it eats the food of other species & feeds on different other living things).
The way cells are organized – Multicellular or unicellular are the cells being organized for this kind of species
Type of cell – In Eukaryotes species, the genetic material is surrounded by a membrane and in prokaryotes species, the genetic material is not surrounded by a membrane.
Respiration – Anaerobic (needs no oxygen for respiration process) versus aerobic (needed oxygen for respiration)
Reproduction – Reproduction can happen by spores, sexual, asexual means of reproduction.
Movement – Self-moving or static.
Five Kingdoms of Life
Animal Kingdom
Animal classification is the most advanced classification of living organisms, with vertebrates and invertebrates being the two major categories. These creatures are multicellular with aerobic respiration possessing sexual reproduction abilities, and movement capabilities. Mammals, fish species, bird types, reptiles category, amphibians, and insect types are among the many species found in this kingdom.
Plant Kingdom
The Plantae kingdom, which includes trees, plants, and other natural vegetation, is one of the earliest classifications of living organisms. It is distinguished by its immovable, multicellular, and nature of being eukaryotic. Because they generate oxygen in the process of photosynthesis, these autotrophic organisms with cellulose and chlorophyll in their cells are vital for life on Earth. In terms of reproduction, they either use sexual or asexual methods.
Fungi Kingdom
This term of classification of living organisms refers to the kingdom of fungus, which includes yeasts, molds, and all types of mushrooms and related species. Chitin is found in the cell walls of these multicellular eukaryotes are aerobic & heterotrophic. They feed on other living organisms and reproduce via spores.
Protista Kingdom
All other eukaryotes are descendants of this group and are the most primitive of the eukaryotes. The Protista kingdom includes eukaryotic species that aren’t considered animals, plants, or fungi, such as protozoa, and is paraphyletic, containing the common origin but not all of its offspring.
Monera Kingdom
The prokaryotes are grouped in this category of microscopic living creatures (archaea and bacteria). This group consists of single-celled organisms with no identifiable nucleus that can be found in all settings. Most microorganisms are aerobic and heterotrophic, whereas archaea are anaerobic and have a chemosynthetic metabolism.
Conclusion
For decades, scientists have attempted to classify biological species in numerous ways. Aristotle categorized living organisms based on whether they lived on land, water, or in the air. However, biologists want a more comprehensive classification scheme for living species. As a result, the five-kingdom classification was born.
Scientists began classifying biological beings very early on. Plants and animals are two classifications used by biologists. Some biologists, such as Ernst Haeckel, Robert Whittaker, and Carl Woese, developed a larger classification system. Among these, Robert Whittaker’s Five Kingdom Classification stood out and is still extensively used today.
