Important Notes For Neet Living World

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Huxley aptly named protoplasm as the physical basis of life, since all processes of life occur within it. It displays all the characteristics of life, thus earning the title of the living matter.

See Also: NEET 2022 Answer Key

Biodiversity in the Living World

Biodiversity refers to the total number and types of organisms found on Earth. Terms commonly used as part of the classification system include species, genus, family, order, class, phylum, and kingdom.

Nomenclature refers to the process of assigning scientific names to organisms. The International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN) and the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) were developed to assign scientific names to plants and animals respectively. The scientific name is composed of two parts - the generic name and the specific epithet. This two-part naming system is known as Binomial Nomenclature and was proposed by Carolus Linnaeus. For example, Homo sapiens, where ‘Homo’ is the generic name and ‘sapiens’ is the specific epithet.

Rules for Nomenclature

Each name consists of two parts - the genus name and the specific epithet

When expressed, should be independently underlined when written manually and should be italics when printed

Names should be Latinized or written in Latin

Generic Name Begins With Upper Case, and Specific Name Begins With Lower Case

Classification - It is the process of organizing creatures into distinct groups or categories based on shared characteristics. These categories are referred to as taxa.

Taxonomy - It is the process of identifying, naming, and classifying living organisms based on their physical and biological characteristics, as well as their evolutionary history.

Systematics - Investigating life forms in association with identification, nomenclature, arrangement and evolutionary correspondence. Linnaeus used Systema Naturae as the title of his publication.

Taxonomic Categories

The seven mandatory categories listed in ascending order of rank or level in a hierarchical arrangement are:

Kingdom > Phylum > Class > Order > Family > Genus > Species

The Kingdom includes various phyla of animals and various divisions of plants.

Division/Phylum - Incorporates related classes as a Division in plants and Phylum in animals.

Many orders related to each other that are incorporated into a single entity are referred to as a ‘class’.

Order – includes a few related families

Family - it is an assembly of related genera.

Genus - a grouping of related animal species that share similar characteristics

Species is the essential unit in classification; it refers to individuals from any animal group that are closely related, descended from a common ancestor, and capable of interbreeding to produce fertile offspring.

Taxonomic Aids

Taxonomic guides or taxonomic aids refer to techniques, stored information, and procedures that are useful in the identification and classification of entities. These include:

Herbarium

A Herbarium is a storeroom of collected plant samples. These samples are dried, pressed, and mounted on sheets, then arranged according to a universally accepted classification system. A Herbarium sheet contains information such as the scientific name, date, location of collection, collector’s name, family, and other details about the sample.

Museums are institutions that preserve and present artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, or historical importance.

This repository contains a collection of various plant and animal specimens that are preserved for research and reference purposes. These specimens are preserved in either dry or preserved form, and may also include animal skeletons.

Zoological Park

Wild animals are provided with a secure natural habitat which allows for the study of their behaviour and sustenance needs.

Botanical Garden

Every plant in the accumulation has a label that displays its scientific name and family name, making it both an identification tool and an information source.

Key

Use for identifying both plants and animals based on similarities and differences.

Turrill classified taxonomy into three different types:

Alpha Taxonomy focuses on collecting and identifying organisms based on their gross morphology, field and herbarium studies, and compiling monographs and floras. It is also used to identify plants.

Beta Taxonomy - Involves collecting and identifying organisms based on their morphology, anatomy, genetics, cytology, physiology, etc.

Omega Taxonomy – considers all microscopic observations, biochemical evidence, and new systematics based on the phonetic classification to be of equal importance.

| Father of Indian Taxonomy | H Santapau |

| Father of Indian Botany and Indian Herbaria | William Roxburgh |