1. What is the Biology field that studies the classification of living beings?
The Biology field that studies the classification of living beings is called taxonomy.
2. Into which categories are living beings classified?
Living beings are classified, from the broader to the more particular category, into kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species (KPCOFGS can be used as a mnemonic). The kingdom is the broadest category and the others in sequence are encompassed by the previous one.
3. What is meant by binomial nomenclature and what are its basic rules?
The scientific nomenclature of a species must have, at least, two names: one that classifies it as a genus and the other that identifies it as species. The name related to the genus is the first and must begin in uppercase, the other following names must be written in lowercase. Besides this rule, scientific names of species must stand out and be written either in italics or underlined or still bolded or between quotation marks.
For example, the scientific name of the human species is “Homo sapiens”, indicating that it belongs to the genus Homo.
Scientific nomenclature of species is important because it universalizes the way to refer to a species making it easier for people of different languages and cultures to understand each other. The same species that have very different names in different regions of the planet can be identified easily by their scientific binomial name.
4. What are the five kingdoms into which living beings are divided? Which group of living beings is out of this classification?
The five kingdoms of living beings are the kingdom Monera, the kingdom Protista, the kingdom Fungi, the kingdom Plantae and the kingdom Animalia.
Viruses are out of this classification and sometimes they are said to belong to their own kingdom, the kingdom Virus.
5. According to cellular organization how are living beings divided into two groups?
Cellular beings are divided into two groups: the prokaryotes, unicellular beings whose sole cell does not have a delimited nucleus, and the eukaryotes, uni or multicellular beings with cells having a delimited nucleus.
Read: Fully Funded Scholarships at Doha Institute for Graduate Studies
6. What are the differences between vertebrates and the other chordates?
Vertebrates are different because they have a spinal column (vertebral column). In these animals, the notochord of the embryonic stage is replaced by the vertebral column in adults.
7. What are the five classes of vertebrates? To which of these do human beings belong?
The five classes of vertebrates are fishes (osteichthyes and chondrichthyes), amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Humans are classified as mammals.
8. What is an evolutionary tree? Is there a precise evolutionary tree known by science that explains the emergence and origin of every type of living being?
An evolutionary tree is the pictorial and schematic representation of evolutionary relations among species of living beings in which the trunk (or a preceding branch) represents common ascendants of species and groups of living beings that are distributed along its branches according to hypothesis on their origin. For example, today it is admitted that birds and mammals are two distinct branches of the same preceding reptile branch. Biology cannot assure a definite evolutionary tree (phylogeny) on the species of living beings that live or have lived on our planet. There are many data to be discovered and many knowledge gaps to be filled. One of the most promising methods to study phylogeny is the comparison of DNA molecules from different groups of living beings researching similarities and differences in nucleotide sequences that may indicate more or less relatedness among species.
Follow: ISA Blog
