ERNST MAYR Living World

1. Born on 5 July 1904, in Kempten, Germany,

2. ‘The Darwin of the 20th century’, was one of the 100 greatest scientists of all time.

3. Joined Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences in __________ and retired in 1975, assuming the title Alexander Agassiz Professor

of Zoology Emeritus.

4. Mayr was awarded the three prizes widely regarded as the triple crown of biology:

 The Balzan Prize in 1983,

 The International Prize for Biology in __________, and

 The Crafoord Prize in 1999.

5. Died at the age of 100 in the year 2004.

6. The number of species that are known and described range between 1.7-1.8 million –
Biodiversity

7. The naming of living organisms such that a particular organism is known by the same
name all over the world - _________________

8. Nomenclature or naming is only possible when the organism is described correctly

and we know to what organism the name is attached to - Identification.
9. International Code for Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN) – For plants

10. ______________________________________________– For Animals

11. Each name has two components –
 Generic name
Specific epithet

12. This system of providing a name with two components - Binomial

nomenclature.

13. Naming system given by - ___________________

14. Other universal rules of nomenclature are as follows:

1. Biological names - Latin and written in italics.

2. The first word in a biological name represents – ________________

• Second component - Specific epithet.

3. Both the words in a biological name, when handwritten, are separately underlined, or

printed in italics

4. The first word - starts with a capital letter while specific epithet - small letter.

15. Name of the author appears after the specific epithet, e.g., Mangifera indica Linn.
16. Process by which anything is grouped into convenient categories based on
some easily observable characters – Classification

17. Based on characteristics, all living organisms can be classified into different
taxa. This process of classification - Taxonomy.

18. Linnaeus used title for publication – ___________________

19. Classification is not a single step process but involves hierarchy of steps
in which each step represents a rank or category.

20. Category is a part of overall taxonomic arrangement- Taxonomic

category

21. All categories together constitute - ---------------------------

22. Each category, referred to as a unit of classification, in fact, represents a

rank - Taxon
23. Taxonomic studies consider a group of individual organisms with fundamental
similarities - species.

24. Group of related species which has more characters in common in comparison to
species of other genera - Genus.

25. Potato and brinjal - two different species but both belong to the genus
____________

26. Lion (Panthera leo), leopard (P. pardus) and tiger (P. tigris) are all species of the
genus Panthera.

27. Felis includes cats.

28. Group of related genera with still less number of similarities as compared to
genus and species - Family.

29. Characterised on the basis of- both vegetative and reproductive features of
plant species.

30. Three different genera Solanum, Petunia and Datura - family Solanaceae.

31. Genus Panther - Lion, Tiger, Leopard is put along with genus, Felis (cats) in the
family Felidae.

32. Cat and a dog separated into – _____________ and Canidae, respectively.
33. As we go higher from species to kingdom, the number of common
characteristics goes on - ______________
BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION
1. Earliest to attempt a more scientific basis for classification – _______________

2. He used simple morphological characters to classify plants into - trees, shrubs

and herbs.
3. He also divided animals into two groups, those which had red blood and those
that did not.
4. _____________ - Two Kingdom system of classification with Plantae and
Animalia.

5. This system did not distinguish between the eukaryotes and prokaryotes,
unicellular and multicellular organisms and photosynthetic (green algae) and
non-photosynthetic (fungi) organisms.
6. Five Kingdom Classification - R.H. Whittaker (________)

7. The kingdoms defined by him –

Monera
Protista
Fungi
______________
Animalia.
8. The main criteria for classification

Cell structure,
Body organisation,
_________________,
Reproduction and
Phylogenetic relationships.
9. The three-domain system has also been proposed that divides the
Kingdom - ____________ into two domains, leaving the remaining
eukaryotic kingdoms in the third domain.

10. Earlier classification systems included bacteria, blue green algae, fungi,
mosses, ferns, gymnosperms and the angiosperms under ‘Plants’.

11. The character that unified this whole kingdom was that all the
organisms included had a ___________in their cells.
 Kingdom Monera
12. Bacteria are the sole members of the Kingdom Monera.

13. They are the most abundant micro-organisms.

14. They also live in extreme habitats such as ________________, deserts,

snow and deep oceans where very few other life forms can survive.

15. Many of them live in or on other organisms as parasites.

16. Bacteria are grouped under four categories based on their shape:
Coccus
Bacillus
______________
Spirillum
17. Bacterial structure - Simple, Behaviour – Very complex

18. Bacteria show the most extensive metabolic diversity.

19. Some of the bacteria are autotrophic

20. They may _________________________or chemosynthetic autotrophic.

21. The vast majority of bacteria are heterotrophs, i.e., they depend on other
organisms or on dead organic matter for food.
 Archaebacteria
22. They live in some of the most harsh habitats such as
Extreme salty areas (halophiles)
Hot springs (thermoacidophiles)
Marshy areas (methanogens).

23. Differ from other bacteria in having a different _______________.

24. Methanogens are present in the gut of several ruminant animals such
as cows and buffaloes

25. They are responsible for the production of ____________ (biogas) from
the dung of these animals.
 Eubacteria
26. Presence of a rigid cell wall, and if motile, a flagellum.

[Link] cyanobacteria have chlorophyll a similar to green plants and are

_____________________

28. The cyanobacteria are unicellular, colonial or filamentous, freshwater/marine

or terrestrial algae.

29. The colonies are generally surrounded by gelatinous sheath.

30. They often form blooms in polluted water bodies.

31. Some of these organisms can fix atmospheric nitrogen in specialised
cells called heterocysts, e.g., Nostoc and ___________

32. Oxidise various inorganic substances such as nitrates, nitrites and

ammonia and use the released energy for their ATP production -
Chemosynthetic autotrophic bacteria

33. They play a great role in recycling nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorous,
iron and Sulphur
34. ______________________are most abundant in nature. The majority
are important decomposers.

35. Many of them have a significant impact on human affairs. They are
helpful in making curd from milk, production of antibiotics, fixing nitrogen
in legume roots, etc.

36. Cholera, typhoid, tetanus, citrus canker - diseases caused by different

bacteria.
[Link] are organisms that
Completely __________________
Smallest living cells known and can survive without oxygen.
Many mycoplasma are pathogenic in animals and plants
 Kingdom Protista
38. All single-celled eukaryotes are placed under Protista

39. Boundaries of this kingdom are not well defined.

40. Include
Chrysophytes,
_________________
Euglenoids,
Slime moulds
Protozoans
 Kingdom Protista
41. Members are primarily ___________and forms a link with the others
dealing with plants, animals and fungi. Being eukaryotes, the protistan cell
body contains a well defined nucleus and other membrane-bound
organelles. Some have flagella or cilia.

42. Reproduce asexually and sexually by a process involving cell fusion and
zygote formation.
 Chrysophytes
43. This group includes diatoms and golden algae.

44. They are found in fresh water as well as in marine environments.

45. They are microscopic and float passively in water currents (plankton).

46. In diatoms the cell walls form two thin overlapping shells, which fit together as in a
_________________

47. The walls are embedded with silica and thus the walls are indestructible.

48. Diatoms are the chief ‘producers’ in the oceans.

 Dinoflagellates
49. These organisms are mostly marine and photosynthetic.
50. They appear yellow, green, brown, blue or red depending on the main
pigments present in their cells.
51. Cell wall has ______________on the outer surface.
52. Most of them have two flagella; one lies longitudinally and the other
transversely in a furrow between the wall plates.
53. Red dinoflagellates (Gonyaulax) undergo such rapid multiplication that
they make the sea appear red (red tides).
 Euglenoids
54. Majority of them are fresh water organisms found in stagnant water.

55. Instead of a cell wall, they have a protein rich layer called ___________
which makes their body flexible.

56. They have two flagella, a short and a long one.

57. Pigments of euglenoids are identical to those present in higher plants.

Example: __________
 Slime moulds
58. Slime moulds are saprophytic protists.

59. The body moves along decaying twigs and leaves engulfing organic material.

60. During unfavourable conditions, the plasmodium differentiates and forms fruiting bodies
bearing spores at their tips.

61. The spores possess true walls.

62. They are extremely resistant and survive for many years, even under adverse conditions.

63. The spores are dispersed by ____________.

 Protozoans
64. All protozoans are heterotrophs and live as predators or parasites.

65. There are four major groups of protozoans.

Amoeboid protozoans: Entamoeba

Flagellated protozoans: _____________
Ciliated protozoans: Paramoecium
Sporozoans: Plasmodium (malarial parasite).
 Kingdom Fungi
66. The fungi constitute a unique kingdom of heterotrophic organisms. They
show a great diversity in morphology and habitat.

67. White spots seen on mustard leaves are due to a parasitic fungus.

68. The cell walls of fungi are composed of ________________________.

69. Most fungi are heterotrophic and absorb soluble organic matter from dead
substrates and hence are called saprophytes.

70. Those that depend on living plants and animals are called parasites.
71. They can also live as symbionts – in association with algae as lichens
and with roots of higher plants as mycorrhiza.

72. The sexual cycle involves the following three steps:

(i) Fusion of protoplasms between two motile or non-motile gametes
called ________________
(ii) Fusion of two nuclei called karyogamy.
(iii) Meiosis in zygote resulting in haploid spores.
 Phycomycetesh
73. Members of phycomycetes are found in aquatic habitats and on
decaying wood in moist and damp places or as obligate parasites on plants.

74. The mycelium is ________________and coenocytic.

75. Asexual reproduction takes place by zoospores (motile) or by

aplanospores (non-motile).

76. Some common examples are Mucor , Rhizopus (the bread mould
mentioned earlier) and ______________ (the parasitic fungi on mustard).
 Ascomycetesh
77. Commonly known as sac-fungi
78. Mostly multicellular, e.g., Penicillium, or rarely unicellular, e.g., yeast
(Saccharomyces).
79. Mycelium is branched and septate.
80. Asci are arranged in different types of fruiting bodies called ascocarps.
81. Some examples are ________________, Claviceps and Neurospora.
82. Neurospora is used extensively in biochemical and genetic work.
83. Many members like morels and truffles are edible and are considered
delicacies.
 Basidiomycetesh
84. Commonly known are mushrooms, bracket fungi or puffballs.

85. The mycelium is branched and septate.

86. The asexual spores are generally not found, but vegetative reproduction by
fragmentation is common.

87. The sex organs are absent, but plasmogamy is brought about by fusion of two
vegetative or somatic cells of different strains or genotypes.

88. Some common members are _____________ (mushroom), Ustilago (smut)

and Puccinia (rust fungus).
 Deuteromycetesh
89. Commonly known as imperfect fungi.

90. Once perfect (sexual) stages of members of dueteromycetes were discovered, they were
often moved to ascomycetes and basidiomycetes.

91. The deuteromycetes reproduce only by asexual spores known as conidia.

92. The mycelium is septate and branched.

93. Some members are saprophytes or parasites while a large number of them are decomposers
of litter and help in mineral cycling.

94. Some examples are Alternaria, Colletotrichum and ______________

 Kingdom Plantae
95. Includes all eukaryotic chlorophyll-containing organisms commonly called plants.

96. Bladderwort and Venus fly trap - insectivorous plants and ___________ - parasite.

97. The plant cells have an eukaryotic structure with prominent chloroplasts and cell
wall mainly made of cellulose.

98. Plantae includes algae, bryophytes, pteridophytes, gymnosperms and angiosperms.

99. Life cycle of plants has two distinct phases – the diploid sporophytic and the haploid
gametophytic – that alternate with each other.
 Kingdom Animaliah
100. This kingdom is characterised by heterotrophic eukaryotic organisms that
are multicellular and their cells lack cell walls.

101. They directly or indirectly depend on plants for food.

102. They digest their food in an internal cavity and store food reserves as
glycogen or fat.

103. Their mode of nutrition is holozoic – by _______________.

104. Higher forms show elaborate sensory and neuromotor mechanism. Most of
them are capable of locomotion.
 Virus, viroids, prionsh
105. Viruses are non-cellular organisms that are characterised by having an inert
crystalline structure outside the living cell.

106. Dmitri Ivanowsky (1892) - microbes as causal organism of the mosaic disease
of tobacco.

107. M.W. Beijerinck (________) - Contagium vivum fluidum (infectious living

fluid)

108. T.O. Diener (1971) - a new infectious agent that was smaller than viruses and
caused potato spindle tuber disease.
 Virus, viroids, prionsh
109. _____________(1935) - Viruses could be crystallised and crystals
consist largely of proteins. They are inert outside their specific host cell.
Viruses are obligate parasites.

110. Viroid - It was found to be a free RNA; it lacked the protein coat that is
found in viruses, hence the name viroid. The RNA of the viroid was of low
molecular weight.
 Virus, viroids, prionsh
111. Prions : An agent consisting of abnormally folded protein.

112. The agent was similar in size to viruses.

113. The most notable diseases caused by prions are- bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE) commonly called mad cow disease in cattle and its
____________ variant Creutzfeldt–Jacob disease (CJD) in humans.
 Lichens
114. Lichens - Associations, between algae and fungi.

115. The algal component is known as _____________ and fungal component as

mycobiont, which are autotrophic and heterotrophic, respectively.

116. Algae prepare food for fungi

117. Fungi provide shelter and absorb mineral nutrients and water for its partner.

118. Good pollution indicator.