Biology Chapter-1
Biology is the branch of scientific knowledge concerning life and
characteristics of organism.
The term Biology comes from a Greek work Bios means life and
logos means knowledge.
Biology has 2 branches: Botany and Zoology
Biology also has 2 other divisions:
i) Physical Biology
ii) Applied Biology
• Father of Biology is ‘Aristotle’
Related questions from here:
a) What is morphology?
a) What is taxonomy?
a) What are the fields of concern in physical biology?
N.B – Read all the fields of both physical and applied Biology
a) Why is genetics called the physical branch of biology?
Ans: The branch of biology the deals with genes and heredity is
genetics.
Since genetics discusses the physical parts of biology such as genes
and heredity, which is the main characteristics of the physical
branch of Biology. That’s why genetics is physical branch of biology.
N.B – Read the reasons of fields of both physical and applied Biology
Classification of living beings
About 4 million different plants species and 13 million animal
species have been names and described till today.
Carolus Linnaeus (1707–1778), a Swedish scientist, introduced the
first major classification system.
He divided life into 2 kingdoms:
1. Plantae (Plants)
2. Animalia (Animals)
With advanced research (e.g., DNA, cell structure), R.H. Whittaker
(1969) proposed 5 kingdoms:
I) Monera
II) Protista
III) Fungi
IV) Animalia
Later Update: Margulis (1974) refined this into 2 super-
kingdoms (Prokaryota, Eukaryota) with 5 kingdoms under them.
Prokaryota – Monera
Eukaryota – Protista
Fungi
Plantae
Animalia
(a) Superkingdom-1 (Prokaryota)
They are primitive, prokaryotic unicellular organisms have no well
structured nucleus in their cell.
Kingdom-I (Monera):
1. They are unicellular/filamentous/colonial.
2. No nuclear membrane/nucleolus (prokaryotic).
3. No mitochondria/plastids/endoplasmic reticulum (only
ribosomes).
4. Reproduces by binary fission.
5. Nutrition: Mostly absorption, some produce food (e.g.,
cyanobacteria).
6. Eg – Bacteria, Nostoc (Blue green algae)
(b) Super kingdom-2 (Eukaryota):
They are eukaryotic (well structured nucleus), both unicellular and
multicellular.
Kingdom-II (Protista):
1. Unicellular or multicellular organisms
2. Can exist as individual cells, colonies, or filaments
3. Have proper nuclei with nuclear membranes
4. Contain DNA, RNA, and proteins in chromatin
5. Possess all cell organelles
6. Three feeding methods: absorption, ingestion, photosynthesis
7. Reproduce asexually (mitosis) and sexually (conjugation)
8. No embryo formation during reproduction
9. Eg – Amoeba, Paramecium and Algae.
Kingdom-III (Fungi): MOST IMPORTANT!!!!!!
1. They are terrestrial.
2. They are saprophytic.
3. Tissue system is absent.
4. Their nuclei are well organized.
5. Their body is made up of mycelium.
6. They take their food by absorption.
7. Chloroplast is absent in cells.
8. They reproduce by haploid pores.
9. They divide through mitotic cell division.
10. Eg - Yeast, Penicillium, Mushroom etc
Kingdom-IV (Plantae): SECOND MOST IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!
1. Capable of photosynthesis.
2. Composed of eukaryotic cells.
3. Have complex tissue systems.
4. They develop embryos and diploid stage starts from it.
5. They are mostly found on land but there are also some aquatic
species in this kingdom.
6. Cell walls made of cellulose
7. Reproduce sexually through fusion of different male and
female gametes
Kingdom-V (Animalia): THIRD MOST IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!
1. Eukaryotic and multicellular organisms.
2. Cells lack cell walls, plastids, and vacuoles.
3. They are heterotrophic because they don’t have plastid so
they can’t produce food by itself.
4. Ingest and digest food internally.
5. They have advanced and complex tissue system.
6. They sexually reproduce.
7. They produce haploid gametes in reproductive organs of
mature and diploid males and
Related questions from here:
c) Write down characteristics of the kingdom fungi.
c) Explain dissimilarities between Prokaryota and Eukaryota.
c) Explain the characteristics of kingdom Protista.
d) The kingdom Plantae is more developed than the kingdom Fungi
– Analyze.
d) What are the characteristical difference between the cell of the
organism of prokaryota and eukaryota.
Steps of classification
Units of classification –
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
The two-part scientific naming system for organisms, created
by Carolus Linnaeus (1753) is Binomial Nomenclature.
Why Use Latin?
• Universal: Accepted worldwide (no language barriers).
• Precise: Avoids confusion from local/common names.
Naming Codes
• Plants: Follow International Code of Botanical Nomenclature
(ICBN).
• Animals: Follow International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
(ICZN).
The principles of binomial nomenclature are mentioned below:
i) The name has to have a Latin word.
ii) The name has to have two parts, the first part is called genus and
the second part is called species.
iii) The first letter of the first part of the scientific name has to be in
capital letter, and rest of the letters including the first letter of
second part will be in small letter.
iv) Genus and species should be underlined separately when written
but should be in Italic front when printed
v) The name of the scientist who named a particular organism,
should be added at the end of the binomial name along with the year
of naming.
Binomial Names of Common Organisms
| Common Name | Scientific Name |
|----------------------| |---------------------------|
| Rice | Oryza sativa |
| Jute | Corchorus capsularis |
| Mango | Mangifera indica |
| Jackfruit | Artocarpus heterophyllus |
| Water lily | Nymphaea nouchali |
| China rose | Hibiscus rosa-sinensis |
| Cholera pathogen | Vibrio cholerae |
| Malaria pathogen | Plasmodium vivax |
| Cockroach | Periplaneta americana |
| Honey bee | Apis indica |
| Ilish fish | Tenualosa ilisha |
| Asian toad | Dutaphrynus melanostictus |
| Oriental Magpie-Robin | Copsychus saularis |
| Tiger | Panthera tigris |
| Human | Homo sapiens |
(a) and (b) type questions
a) What is called classification?
a) Who is the father of biology?
a) What is ICZN?
a) Who introduced binomial nomenclature?
a) What are the units of classifications?
b) How do algae produce food?
b) Why bacteria is called the prokaryotic cell?
b) Which kingdom does amoeba belong to? Why?
b) Why man is primate order? Explain.
b) Why is sapiens called as a species of humans? Explain.
