What are the 5 Kingdoms of Nature?

The Five kingdoms of nature Is the most traditional taxonomy of our society to classify all known life on our planet. According to the scientists, the classification considers the monera kingdom, the protist kingdom, the fungi kingdom, the Plantae kingdom and the animalia kingdom.

Each kingdom contains an enormous diversity and each organism plays a specific role within the great interactive chain of life on earth. The 5 types of living beings benefit each other in the famous communities called Ecosystems .

Representatives of the five kingdoms of nature

It can be considered Aristotle As one of the first to propose a classification for all living beings on the planet, which were the plant kingdom and the animal kingdom. For the animals there was the subdivision of terrestrial, aquatic and flying.

This did not work very well at all, since it grouped elephants with worms, whales with skating insects and flies with eagles, among others. By the locomotion method bats were grouped with dragonflies and worms with snakes.

The situation became more complicated with the arrival of the scientific revolutions that opened the horizons to experience with more freedom. Technological advances allowed for more specialized studies of living things, especially the microscope .

A third kingdom, Protista , Was proposed to categorize everything that did not fit as animal or plant, especially for microscopic organisms.

When the difference between unicellular and multicellular organisms is revealed, as well as between Unicellular Without nucleus (prokaryote) and with nucleus (eukaryote), the classification is extended to 4 kingdoms with the inclusion of Monera kingdom .

Finally it is discovered that the fungi are organisms impossible to include within the plantae or protista realms, and they are established as a different group: fungi kingdom .

In this way and since 1969, the system of five kingdoms is accepted by the scientific community proposed by the ecologist Robert Whittaker .

The five kingdoms of nature

1- The Plantae kingdom

Medicinal plants of Guatemala such as fennel and

Better known as the vegetal kingdom , Is a taxonomic group of the nature formed by all the plants of the planet Earth. They are characterized by being organisms that produce their own food synthesizing water and energy from sunlight.

This process is called photosynthesis ; Which thanks to the action of chlorophyll, plants take carbon dioxide from the air and expel oxygen. Chlorophyll is also the substance that gives them that characteristic green color.

In this way, these organisms get all the nutrients necessary for their metabolism without needing to nourish themselves from other living beings. Thanks to these few requirements, plants can grow even under the most severe conditions.

Flowering plants reproduce sexually through pollination, allowing them to produce seeds. Others reproduce asexually through bulbs, shoots or tubers that can grow as new plants when finding the right place.

The cherry tree is one of the trees that are included in the fruit growing

In addition, they are multicellular organisms of the eukaryote type, that is, they have a cell nucleus. The walls of their cells are made of cellulose, material that gives them that crunchy feature.

In plants, cells are grouped to form specialized sections that fulfill specific functions: roots, stem, bark, branches, leaves, flowers, fruits, among others.

Some seaweeds are classified within this kingdom, but most algae are part of the protist kingdom.

There are about a quarter of a million species of plants on earth, with which most other living beings on the planet could not survive.

2- The Animalia kingdom

What are the 5 Kingdoms of Nature?

This group of organisms contains-by far-more known species than the rest of the other kingdoms added together.

Animals can be found living anywhere in the world and exist of any size; From very small like mites and microscopic like the mixozoos, to very big as the blue whale.

Animals are very complex and possess the greatest diversity on the planet. Even so, they share certain main characteristics. They are multicellular organisms eukaryote but without cell walls.

This latter quality allows the grouping of millions of cells to form highly specialized tissues and organs inside and outside their bodies.

Next, animals have the ability to move on their own unlike plants. They have appendages, limbs or body motor systems that allow them to move from one place to another.

In addition, they depend on other living things to obtain the nutrients necessary for their metabolism. Primordially plants and other animals, but can also feed on fungi, algae or microscopic organisms in the case of very small animals.

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Most animals reproduce sexually, depending on the female and male of each species to procreate. A small number reproduces asexually as corals, some insects, worms, anemones and jellyfish.

Finally, they can be subclassified by invertebrates and vertebrates. Invertebrates lack articular bone structure such as insects and mollusks. Vertebrates have spine and skeleton such as birds, fish and mammals.

3- The Fungi Kingdom

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Also called the kingdom of fungi, they are multicellular eukaryotic organisms with cell walls formed of chitin. This material makes them have a hard outer shell, which is visible and tangible especially in large species.

The fungi were removed from the plant kingdom because they are not able to produce their own food. Like animals, it depends on other living things to get the nutrients. But instead of eating other organisms, you feed by absorbing what you need from them.

Some get their food directly from the soil soil, while others stick with living or dead matter to feed.

Most of the fungus lives buried beneath the surface and what you can see is its renowned hat.

His method of reproduction is based on spores that expel from under his hat. Each spore adheres to the required surface and from there grows a new fungus. There are over 100,000 known species and it is believed that more than 5 million are missing.

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Some Fungi are beneficial And even groceries. Medicine has found in these organisms a powerful ally to treat and cure diseases, as is the case of penicillin that was discovered studying and experimenting with certain fungi.

Yeast is a type of fungus used worldwide in the making of bread, wine and beer. Many fungi like mushrooms , Truffles and some mushrooms have a very special place in the universal gastronomy.

Other fungi are dangerous, poisonous or disease-causing. Athlete's foot, seborrhea, dandruff and other mycoses are caused by skin fungi that feed on dead skin or keratin.

4- The Protist kingdom

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The distinctions of this kingdom are not completely defined and even enter into this group any kind of species that does not fit into any of the other four. Some are multicellular but mostly are single-celled.

The main characteristic of these organisms is that they have a defined cell nucleus. This feature makes them part of the empire of eukaryotic organisms, along with fungi, plants and animals.

Following the same order of ideas, most are green and can either produce their own food or feed on other organisms. In this group most of the algae are included in one cell or many cells, large or very small.

The latter especially have chlorophyll and can not move on their own. They function as plants, that is, with sunlight and water producing their own nutrients. They form part of the conglomerate of very small or microscopic species of the famous plankton of the waters.

Mold, originally classified as a fungus, is currently included within the protist kingdom. Studies showed that they were a kind of seaweed that clung to the moist surfaces of the rocks.

There are also some protists who have the ability to move with appendages called flagella or by the extension or contraction of their cell membranes.

They function as animals, that is, they need to seek their nutrients by feeding on other organisms. Among them are amoebas.

5- The kingdom Monera

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They are unicellular prokaryote organisms, that is, they do not possess cell nucleus. This kingdom of organisms is in itself a single empire of species with cells without nucleus, what differentiates them completely of the eukaryote empire to where they belong the previous four kingdoms.

The individuals of this kingdom are made up of a simple cell with very basic components. They are the most microscopic of all living beings on the planet. There may even be millions in a single drop of water.

Some simply float in their midst and others have mechanisms to move. Bacteria make up this kingdom and can exist almost anywhere in the world as they are tolerant to extreme high or low temperatures.

Although bacteria cause many common diseases, they are also important for enriching the soil and making it fertile. The production of cheese, yogurt and other fermented foods would not be possible without the bacteria.

They are also responsible for helping to digest cellulose in hoofed animals such as cattle, a process necessary for these animals to obtain the fat necessary for their tissues and milk production.

References

  1. Cazadero Performing Arts Camp (2004, updated 2011). The Five Kingdoms of Life. Retrieved from davidlnelson.md.
  2. Nicole Crumpler. Plant and Animal Interactions In Our Living World. Drew Freeman Middle School. Retrieved from mcdaniel.edu.
  3. com. The Five Kingdoms. Recovered from softschools.com.
  4. David R. Caprette. Five Kingdom Classification System. Rice University Date - Experimental biosciences - Resources for introductory & intermediate level laboratory courses. Retrieved from ruf.rice.edu.
  5. Difference Between.net (2010). Difference Between Algae and Plants. Recovered from differencebetween.net.
  6. Cape Breton Victoria Regional School Board (2001). The Diversity of Life. Advanced Grade Eleven Biology Class of Memorial High School. Retrieved from cbv.ns.ca.
  7. Biology - Innovation. The Five Kingdoms. Retrieved from biology-innovation.co.uk.


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