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ESO Y1 · Biology and Geology
Living Things · Living things and their classification

The kingdoms of living things

An oak tree, a mushroom, a bacterium and an eagle are all living things, but they look nothing like each other. To avoid getting lost in so much diversity, scientists sort them into five big boxes: the kingdoms.

Three questions, five kingdoms

If you compare a bacterium from yoghurt with an oak tree in the playground, both are alive, but their size, their cells and the way they feed are completely different: what three key clues do scientists use to group such different living things into five big kingdoms?

The five kingdoms of living things illustrated with one example of each: a bacterium with DNA but no nucleus, an amoeba with a nucleus, a mushroom, a flowering plant and a fish. Living things Monera prokaryotes Protista unicellular eukaryote Fungi absorb their food Plantae multicellular autotroph Animalia multicellular heterotroph
Practice★☆☆
Name the six kingdoms of living things and give an example of an organism for each of them.

Name the six kingdoms of living things and give an example of an organism for each of them.

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Practice★☆☆
The diagram shows the classification tree of living things according to the five-kingdom model, but one kingdom is missing, marked with "?". Identify which kingdom it is…

The diagram shows the classification tree of living things according to the five-kingdom model, but one kingdom is missing, marked with "?". Identify which kingdom it is and explain the characteristics (cell type, number of cells, and mode of nutrition) that define it.

Living things prokaryotes eukaryotes unicellular multicellular autotrophic heterotrophic absorb food ingest food kingdom Monera kingdom Protista Plant kingdom ? Animal kingdom
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Kingdom Monera and kingdom Protista: the smallest ones

Comparison between a bacterium from the kingdom Monera, a prokaryotic cell with free DNA in the cytoplasm and no nucleus, and an amoeba from the kingdom Protista, a eukaryotic cell with a nucleus, pseudopodia and a vacuole containing food. Kingdom Monera bacterium · prokaryotic cell Kingdom Protista amoeba · eukaryotic cell cell wall membrane flagellum free DNA ribosomes no nucleus pseudopodium vacuole membrane cytoplasm nucleus with a nucleus drawings not to scale
Practice★☆☆
Which kingdom groups bacteria together? State which type of cell they have and give two examples of bacteria present in your daily life.

Which kingdom groups bacteria together? State which type of cell they have and give two examples of bacteria present in your daily life.

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Cyanobacteria, formerly called "blue-green algae", carry out photosynthesis. Explain why they stopped being considered algae and are classified in the kingdom Monera,…

Cyanobacteria, formerly called "blue-green algae", carry out photosynthesis. Explain why they stopped being considered algae and are classified in the kingdom Monera, stating which characteristic carries more weight than the way of feeding when classifying them.

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The kingdom of Fungi

If you leave a slice of damp bread on a covered plate for a few days, you will see a white and green fuzz of mould grow without having received any sunlight: how can that living thing feed and grow if it has no mouth to eat with and no green leaves to capture light?

Comparison between a plant, which makes its food using sunlight, and a fungus, which absorbs ready-made food from the bread or wood where it grows. Plant makes its food using light Fungus absorbs food ready-made light bread, wood
Practice★☆☆
The Fungi kingdom is closer to your life than you think. Name three fungi (or products made thanks to fungi) from your daily life and explain the role of each one.

The Fungi kingdom is closer to your life than you think. Name three fungi (or products made thanks to fungi) from your daily life and explain the role of each one.

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For centuries, mushrooms were considered plants. Explain at least two reasons why fungi are today classified in their own kingdom, separate from the plant kingdom.

For centuries, mushrooms were considered plants. Explain at least two reasons why fungi are today classified in their own kingdom, separate from the plant kingdom.

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The kingdom Plantae and the kingdom Animalia

In a garden, a rose bush stays in the same place all the time, capturing light, while a blackbird actively looks for worms in the grass: what essential differences in their cells and in the way they obtain energy separate the life of a plant from that of an animal?

A flowering rose bush captures sunlight without moving, while a blackbird looks for and pulls a worm out of the grass: plants make their food and animals look for theirs. Plantae Animalia autotrophs make their food heterotrophs look for their food
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Which kingdom brings together multicellular living things that make their own food thanks to light? Name the cell organelle that makes this possible and give two…

Which kingdom brings together multicellular living things that make their own food thanks to light? Name the cell organelle that makes this possible and give two examples of organisms from that kingdom.

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Summarise four characteristics of the Animal kingdom: cell type, number of cells, how they obtain food, and what they usually do to get it.

Summarise four characteristics of the Animal kingdom: cell type, number of cells, how they obtain food, and what they usually do to get it.

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Algae carry out photosynthesis like plants, but in the five-kingdom model they are classified in the kingdom Protista. Explain how their organisation differs from that…

Algae carry out photosynthesis like plants, but in the five-kingdom model they are classified in the kingdom Protista. Explain how their organisation differs from that of plants (they do not form true tissues or organs such as roots, stems, and leaves: they have a thallus) and reason why the criterion "carries out photosynthesis" is not enough to classify a living thing.

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Five kingdoms and three domains

The five-kingdom scheme is a historical school model that is useful for comparing cell organisation, nutrition and number of cells. Scientific classification is revised using data on evolutionary relationships, especially molecular data: the model should not be confused with a final and unchangeable list.

The three domains: Bacteria and Archaea, with prokaryotic cells without a nucleus, and Eukarya, with cells with a nucleus (animals, plants, fungi and others), joined in a simplified family tree with a common ancestor. Prokaryotes: no nucleus Eukaryotes: with a nucleus Bacteria Archaea Eukarya animals plants fungi and other eukaryotes family tree common ancestor
Let's practice! 8 medium exercises in this section
★★☆ Create a table showing the five kingdoms of the traditional classification…★★☆ For centuries, mushrooms were considered plants. Explain at least two reasons why fungi…

Back to the beginning: You can now classify the four living things from the start: the bacterium in Monera (prokaryotic), the mushroom in Fungi (eukaryotic heterotroph that feeds by absorption), the oak in Plantae (multicellular autotroph) and the eagle in Animalia (multicellular heterotroph that feeds by ingestion).

Summary

Let's practice! 8 medium exercises in this section
★★☆ Create a table showing the five kingdoms of the traditional classification…★★☆ For centuries, mushrooms were considered plants. Explain at least two reasons why fungi…★★☆ A microscopic organism is unicellular, has eukaryotic cells, and moves actively in search…
Let's practice! 8 hard exercises in this section
★★★ A single-celled organism with a nucleus is discovered in a pond. It has chlorophyll when…★★★ A student observes a lichen on a bare limestone rock and states: “It is a simple plant,…
See all the exercises in this section