The Five Kingdoms
- The first division of living things in the classification system is to put them into one of five kingdoms. They are:
- Animals
- Plants
- Fungi
- Protoctists
- Prokaryotes
- Main features of all animals:
- they are multicellular
- their cells contain a nucleus but no cell walls or chloroplasts
- they feed on organic substances made by other living things
A typical animal cell
- Main features of all plants:
- they are multicellular
- their cells contain a nucleus, chloroplasts and cellulose cell walls
- they all feed by photosynthesis
A typical plant cell
- Main features of all fungi (e.g. moulds, mushrooms, yeast)
- usually multicellular
- cells have nuclei and cell walls not made from cellulose
- do not photosynthesize but feed by saprophytic (on dead or decaying material) or parasitic (on live material) nutrition
A typical fungal cell
- Main features of all protoctists (e.g. Amoeba, Paramecium, Plasmodium)
- most are unicellular but some are multicellular
- all have a nucleus, some may have cell walls and chloroplasts
- meaning some protoctists photosynthesise and some feed on organic substances made by other living things
Two examples of protoctist cells
- Main features of all prokaryotes (bacteria, blue-green algae)
- often unicellular
- cells have cell walls (not made of cellulose) and cytoplasm but no nucleus or mitochondria
A typical bacterial cell