DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS
OF A SPECIFIC TAXON RELATIVE
TO OTHER TAXA
Rheamel Jean B. Amora
TAXONOMY
is the science of classifying organisms. It results in
classifications that allows storage, retrieval, and
communication of information about organisms.
is the branch of biology that groups and names
organisms based on studies of their shared
characteristics
R.H. Whittaker proposed the five kingdom of classification in 196
1.Kingdom Monera
2.Kingdom Protista
3.Kingdom Fungi
4.Kingdom Plantae
5.Kingdom Animalia
KINGDOM MONERA
Most primitive group of organisms and
most abundant of all, generally
comprises unicellular organisms with a
prokaryotic cell organization and lack of
cell structures such as nucleus and
other cell organelles.
Monerans are found everywhere in hot
or thermal springs, in the deep ocean
floor, under ice, in deserts and also
KINGDOM PROTISTA
Primary producers in the aquatic
ecosystems. The kingdom Protista is a
biological classification that includes a
diverse group of eukaryotic
microorganisms.
It’s often considered a “catch-all”
kingdom for organisms that don’t fit
neatly into other kingdoms like plants,
animals, or fungi.
KINGDOM FUNGI
Fungi are a kingdom of usually
multicellular eukaryotic organisms
that are heterotrophs and have
important roles in nutrient cycling
in an ecosystem.
KINGDOM PLANTAE
Kingdom Plantae includes all the
plants. They are eukaryotic,
multicellular and autotrophic
organisms. The plant cell contains
a rigid cell wall. Plants have
chloroplast and chlorophyll
pigment, which is required for
photosynthesis.
KINGDOM ANIMALIA
All animals are members of the
Kingdom Animalia, also called
Metazoa. All members of Animalia
are multicellular, and all are
heterotrophs (that is, they rely
directly or indirectly on other
organisms for their nourishment).
Most ingest food and digest it in
an internal cavity.
Three Domains
Such difficulties have led biologists to adopt a
three(3) domain scheme. The three domains
consist of: Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya.
They are a taxonomic level higher than the
kingdom level.
The domain Bacteria contains most of the
currently known prokaryotes, including the
bacteria closely related to chloroplasts
and mitochondria.
Three Domains
The second domain, Archaea, consists of
a diverse group of prokaryotic organisms
that inhabit a wide variety of environments.
The third domain, Eukarya, consists of all
the organisms that have cells containing
nuclei. This domain includes many groups
of single-celled organisms, as well as
multicellular plants, fungi, and animals.
The three-domain system highlights the fact that much of the
history of life has been about single-celled organisms.
The two prokaryotic domains consist entirely of single-
celled organisms, and even in Eukarya, only the branches
plants, fungi, and animals are dominated by
multicellular organisms.
