Explan THE CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING THINGS INTO FIVE KINGDOMS
The first person to divide living things into five broad kingdoms was North American ecologist Robert Whittaker. This researcher proved in 1959 that fungi were not plant organisms - previously it was thought that they were - and a decade later he proposed the creation of the fungi kingdom to differentiate them from plants. Whittaker's theory was widely accepted and the scientific community thereby added a new group to the previous four-kingdom system, established by the American biologist Herbert Copeland in 1956.
Animal kingdom
The kingdom Animalia is the most evolved and is divided into two large groups - vertebrates and invertebrates. These animals are multi-celled, heterotrophic eukaryotes with aerobic respiration, sexual reproduction and the ability to move. This kingdom is one of the most diverse and comprises mammals, fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, molluscs and annelids, among others.
Plant kingdom
Trees, plants and other species of vegetation make up part of the Plantae kingdom - one of the oldest, and characterised by its immobile, multicellular and eukaryotic nature. These autotrophic things, whose cells contain cellulose and chlorophyll are essential for life on Earth since they release oxygen through photosynthesis. As regards their method of reproduction, this may be either sexual or asexual.
Infographic_Living_Things
The kingdoms of living things and their species at a glance.
SEE INFOGRAPHIC: The kingdoms of living things and their species at a glance [PDF]External link, opens in new window.
Fungi kingdom
This name is used to designate the fungi kingdom which includes yeasts, moulds and all species of mushrooms and toadstools. These multicellular aerobic heterotrophic eukaryotes have chitin in their cell walls, feed off other living things, and reproduce through spores.
Protista kingdom
This group is the most primitive of the eukaryotics and all the others are descendants of it. The Protista kingdom is paraphyletic - it contains the common ancestor but not all its descendants - and it includes those eukaryotic organisms that are not deemed to be animals, plants or fungi such as protozoa. As it is so heterogeneous it is difficult to categorise it, since its members have very little in common.
Monera kingdom
This is the kingdom of microscopic living things and groups together the prokaryotes (archaea and bacteria). This group is present in all habitats and is made up of single-cell things with no defined nucleus. Most bacteria are aerobic and heterotrophic, while the archaea are usually anaerobic and their metabolism is chemosynthetic.
The classification of the five kingdoms of nature remains the most accepted today, although the latest advances in genetic research have suggested new revisions and reopened the debate among experts. Such is the case for the sixth kingdom of Carl Woese and George Fox, who in 1977 divided bacteria into two types (Archaea and Bacteria), and the seventh kingdom of Cavalier-Smith, who added a new group to the previous six for algae called Chromista.
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Explan THE CLASSIFICATION OF LIVING THINGS INTO FIVE KINGDOMS
The first person to divide living things into five broad kingdoms was North American ecologist Robert Whittaker. This researcher proved in 1959 that fungi were not plant organisms - previously it was thought that they were - and a decade later he proposed the creation of the fungi kingdom to differentiate them from plants. Whittaker's theory was widely accepted and the scientific community thereby added a new group to the previous four-kingdom system, established by the American biologist Herbert Copeland in 1956.
Animal kingdom
The kingdom Animalia is the most evolved and is divided into two large groups - vertebrates and invertebrates. These animals are multi-celled, heterotrophic eukaryotes with aerobic respiration, sexual reproduction and the ability to move. This kingdom is one of the most diverse and comprises mammals, fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, molluscs and annelids, among others.
Plant kingdom
Trees, plants and other species of vegetation make up part of the Plantae kingdom - one of the oldest, and characterised by its immobile, multicellular and eukaryotic nature. These autotrophic things, whose cells contain cellulose and chlorophyll are essential for life on Earth since they release oxygen through photosynthesis. As regards their method of reproduction, this may be either sexual or asexual.
Infographic_Living_Things
The kingdoms of living things and their species at a glance.
SEE INFOGRAPHIC: The kingdoms of living things and their species at a glance [PDF]External link, opens in new window.
Fungi kingdom
This name is used to designate the fungi kingdom which includes yeasts, moulds and all species of mushrooms and toadstools. These multicellular aerobic heterotrophic eukaryotes have chitin in their cell walls, feed off other living things, and reproduce through spores.
Protista kingdom
This group is the most primitive of the eukaryotics and all the others are descendants of it. The Protista kingdom is paraphyletic - it contains the common ancestor but not all its descendants - and it includes those eukaryotic organisms that are not deemed to be animals, plants or fungi such as protozoa. As it is so heterogeneous it is difficult to categorise it, since its members have very little in common.
Monera kingdom
This is the kingdom of microscopic living things and groups together the prokaryotes (archaea and bacteria). This group is present in all habitats and is made up of single-cell things with no defined nucleus. Most bacteria are aerobic and heterotrophic, while the archaea are usually anaerobic and their metabolism is chemosynthetic.
The classification of the five kingdoms of nature remains the most accepted today, although the latest advances in genetic research have suggested new revisions and reopened the debate among experts. Such is the case for the sixth kingdom of Carl Woese and George Fox, who in 1977 divided bacteria into two types (Archaea and Bacteria), and the seventh kingdom of Cavalier-Smith, who added a new group to the previous six for algae called Chromista.
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