The Living World quiz

Binomial nomenclature was proposed by:

Which of the following is a defining property of living organisms?

The lowest category in the taxonomic hierarchy is:

Which code governs the naming of animals?

In Mangifera indica, 'indica' is the:

Panthera leo, Panthera tigris and Panthera pardus belong to the same:

The family of the housefly is:

Mango belongs to the family:

Which of these is correctly written?

Cats and dogs are placed in the same:

Why is growth not a defining property of living organisms? (2 marks)

How does reproduction help in defining living organisms? Give an exception. (2 marks)

Why are mules not able to reproduce, yet they are living? (2 marks)

What is meant by the 'specific epithet'? (2 marks)

Why are scientific names written in Latin? (2 marks)

What is a family? Give an example from plants. (2 marks)

Distinguish between a genus and a species. (2 marks)

What is meant by identification, nomenclature and classification? (2 marks)

Why is the order Primata placed in the class Mammalia? (2 marks)

How does a species differ from a variety? (2 marks)

In a school garden survey, students recorded 120 species: 84 plants, 30 insects and 6 birds. Calculate the percentage of each group. (3 marks)

A biologist describes 25 new species a year. How many years would she need to describe 1,000 species at this rate? (3 marks)

If 1.75 million species are known and scientists estimate there may be 7 million, calculate the percentage of species still undescribed. (3 marks)

The genus Solanum contains potato, brinjal and nightshade. Write their scientific names correctly and state the number of species named. (3 marks)

A lion and tiger share kingdom, phylum, class, order, family and genus but not species. Calculate how many of the seven main categories they share. (3 marks)

Read the passage and answer the questions. A student found a plant labelled 'Mangifera indica Linn.' in a botanical garden. She noticed that a nearby plant was labelled 'Solanum tuberosum' and another 'Solanum melongena'. (i) What does 'Linn.' indicate? (ii) Which two plants belong to the same genus? (iii) Why are the names printed in italics? (5 marks)

Read the passage and answer the questions. Living organisms show growth, reproduction and metabolism. However, a mule, a sterile worker bee and an infertile human couple do not reproduce. Non-living things such as mountains and sand mounds also grow by accumulation of material on their surface. Crystals grow too. (i) Why are growth and reproduction not defining properties? (ii) How is growth in living organisms different from that in non-living things? (iii) What is the most obvious and technically complicated feature of living organisms? (5 marks)

Read the passage and answer the questions. Classification is not a single-step process but involves hierarchy of steps in which each step represents a rank or category. Since the category is a part of overall taxonomic arrangement, it is called the taxonomic category, and all categories together constitute the taxonomic hierarchy. (i) Name the seven main categories. (ii) Why is species called the basic unit? (iii) How do characters change from species to kingdom? (5 marks)

Read the passage and answer the questions. Order, being a higher category, is the assemblage of families which exhibit a few similar characters. Plant families like Convolvulaceae and Solanaceae are included in the order Polymoniales mainly based on the floral characters. The animal order Carnivora includes families like Felidae and Canidae. (i) What is an order? (ii) Name two families in Carnivora. (iii) Name the class that includes the order Carnivora and Primata. (5 marks)

Read the passage and answer the questions. Human beings have the ability to sense their surroundings and respond. Plants also respond to external factors like light, water, temperature and other organisms. All organisms, from the prokaryotes to the most complex eukaryotes, can sense and respond to environmental cues. (i) What is this property called? (ii) Give an example of plants responding to light. (iii) What is self-consciousness and which organisms have it? (5 marks)

What is living? Explain the characteristic features of living organisms and identify which are defining properties. (6 marks)

Explain the need for classification. Describe the rules of binomial nomenclature with examples. (6 marks)

Describe the taxonomic categories in the hierarchy with examples from plants and animals. (6 marks)

Explain taxonomy and systematics. How have they helped in understanding diversity? Draw a pyramid of the taxonomic hierarchy. (6 marks)

Write the classification of man, housefly, mango and wheat from kingdom to species. Explain what the comparison shows. (6 marks)