Many Kingdoms

When Linnaeus developed his system of classification, there were only two kingdoms, Plants and Animals. But the use of the microscope led to the discovery of new organisms and the identification of differences in cells. A two-kingdom system was no longer useful. Today the system of classification includes six kingdoms. How are organism placed into their kingdoms?

You are probably quite familiar with the members of this kingdom as it contains all the plants that you have come to know - flowering plants , mosses, and ferns. Plants are all multicellular and consist of complex cells.

In addition plants are autotrophs, organisms that make their own food. With over , species, the plant kingdom is the second largest kingdom. Plant species range from the tiny green mosses to giant trees. Without plants, life on Earth would not exist! Plants feed almost all the heterotrophs organisms that eat other organisms on Earth. The animal kingdom is the largest kingdom with over 1 million known species. All animals consist of many complex cells.

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They are also heterotrophs. Members of the animal kingdom are found in the most diverse environments in the world. To their surprise they discovered unicellular one cell organisms in the samples. These organisms are today classified in the kingdom, Archaebacteria.

Archaebacteria are found in extreme environments such as hot boiling water and thermal vents under conditions with no oxygen or highly acid environments. The biologists pictured above are immersing microscope slides in the boiling pool onto which some archaebacteria might be captured for study. Like archaebacteria, eubacteria are complex and single celled. They are the kinds found everywhere and are the ones people are most familiar with. Nutrients are acquired by photosynthesis they all require sunlight. Animalia Animals are multicellular, and move with the aid of cilia, flagella, or muscular organs based on contractile proteins.

They have organelles including a nucleus, but no chloroplasts or cell walls. Animals acquire nutrients by ingestion. Copyright and Intended Use Visitors: Five Kingdom Classification System Once upon a time, all living things were lumped together into two kingdoms, namely plants and animals at least, that's how I learned it. A "mini-key" to the five kingdoms Suppose you see something in freshwater that certainly appears to be living. How can you begin to determine what it is?

See a Problem?

Here is a key not quite perfect that you might use to help determine the kingdom to which it belongs. Is it green or does it have green parts? Could be a plant or a protist, or blue-green bacteria. Make sure that the green is really part of the organism, though. An animal might have eaten something green, for example. Look for cell walls, internal structure. In the compound microscope you might be able to see chloroplasts.

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Could be a moneran bacteria , protist, fungus, or animal. Single-celled - go to 4 Multicellular Look for complex or branching structure, appendages - go to 5 4. Could be a moneran or a protist.

Can you see any detail inside the cell? Movement should be present, using cilia, flagella, or amoeboid motion. Cilia or flagella may be difficult to see. Should be quite small. May be shaped like short dashes rods , small dots cocci , or curved or spiral shaped. The largest them that is commonly found in freshwater is called Spirillum volutans. It is spiral shaped, and can be nearly a millimeter long. Except for Spirillum, it is very difficult to see Monerans except in a compound microscope with special lighting.

Movement can be by cilia, flagella, or complex, involving parts that contract. Structure should be complex.

Feeding activity may be obvious. Should be branched, colorless filaments. May have some kind of fruiting body mushrooms are a fungus, don't forget. Usually attached to some piece of decaying matter - may form a fuzzy coating on or around an object.

In water, some bacterial infections of fish and other animals may be mistaken for a fungus. If it consists of long, unbranched greenish filaments with no apparent structure inside, it is blue-green bacteria sometimes mistakenly called blue-green algae , a Moneran. Most green protists are flagellates, that is, they move rapidly with a spiralling motion.