Five Kingdom Classification

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Five King­dom Clas­si­fi­ca­tion

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Five King­dom Clas­si­fi­ca­tion (R.H. Whit­tak­er — 1969)

• Key Fea­tures:
  • King­doms: Mon­era, Pro­tista, Fun­gi, Plan­tae, Ani­malia.
  • Clas­si­fi­ca­tion cri­te­ria:
    • Cell struc­ture (prokary­ot­ic vs. eukary­ot­ic)
    • Body orga­ni­za­tion (uni­cel­lu­lar vs. mul­ti­cel­lu­lar)
    • Mode of nutri­tion (autotroph­ic vs. het­erotroph­ic)
    • Repro­duc­tion
    • Phy­lo­ge­net­ic rela­tion­ships (evo­lu­tion­ary his­to­ry)
• Why a new sys­tem?
  • Lim­i­ta­tions of old­er sys­tems:
    • Grouped prokary­otes (bac­te­ria, blue-green algae) with eukary­otes.
    • Mixed uni­cel­lu­lar and mul­ti­cel­lu­lar organ­isms.
    • Did­n’t dis­tin­guish between het­erotroph­ic fun­gi and autotroph­ic plants despite cell wall dif­fer­ences (chitin in fun­gi, cel­lu­lose in plants).
  • Whit­tak­er’s sys­tem addressed these issues by:
    • Sep­a­rat­ing prokary­otes into King­dom Mon­era.
    • Cre­at­ing King­dom Pro­tista for uni­cel­lu­lar eukary­otes.
    • Rec­og­niz­ing fun­gi as a dis­tinct king­dom (Fun­gi).
• King­dom Pro­tista:
  • A diverse king­dom includ­ing organ­isms like:
    • Chlamy­domonas and Chlorel­la (pre­vi­ous­ly clas­si­fied as algae)
    • Para­me­ci­um and Amoe­ba (pre­vi­ous­ly clas­si­fied as ani­mals)
  • This group­ing reflects the change in clas­si­fi­ca­tion cri­te­ria, empha­siz­ing cell struc­ture and mode of nutri­tion over sim­ple mor­phol­o­gy.
• Evo­lu­tion of Clas­si­fi­ca­tion Sys­tems:
  • Clas­si­fi­ca­tion sys­tems are not sta­t­ic; they change with improved under­stand­ing of:
    • Organ­ism char­ac­ter­is­tics
    • Evo­lu­tion­ary rela­tion­ships
  • Mod­ern sys­tems aim to be phy­lo­ge­net­ic, reflect­ing evo­lu­tion­ary his­to­ry.
• Three-Domain Sys­tem:
  • An alter­na­tive sys­tem that fur­ther divides Mon­era into two domains.
  • Cre­ates a six-king­dom clas­si­fi­ca­tion.
  • Will be explored in high­er class­es.
• Note: This chap­ter focus­es on Mon­era, Pro­tista, and Fun­gi. Plan­tae and Ani­malia will be cov­ered sep­a­rate­ly.
• Table from NCERT