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NEET BIOLOGY The Living World and Biological Classification
SOLUTIONS (TEST - 1)
1. (d) : Hierarchy of categories is the classification of
organisms in a definite sequence of categories (taxonomic
categories) in a descending order starting from Kingdom and
reaching upto Species or in ascending order from Species
to Kingdom. The number of similar characters of categories
decreases from lowest rank (Species) to highest rank (Kingdom).
The taxonomic hierarchy includes seven obligate categories–
Kingdom, Division or Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and
Species.
2. (c) : ICBN stands for International Code of Botanical
Nomenclature. It is a set of rules and recommendations dealing
with the formal botanical names given to plant. The name ICBN
has now changed to ICN (International Code of Nomenclature
for algae, fungi and plants) at the International Botanical
Congress in Melbourne in July 2011 as part of the Melbourne
Code which replaces the Vienna Code of 2005.
3. (a)
4. (c) : At the molecular level there is similarity in the types
of proteins, enzymes, hormones and other biochemicals.
5. (a) reproduction and phylogenetic relationship.
6. (d) : Mucor, Penicillium and Albugo belong to Kingdom
Protista.
7. (b) : The abbreviation ‘zoo’ was first used for the London
Zoological Gardens which was opened for Scientific Study in
1828 an d to the public in 1847.
8. (b)
9. (d) : Kingdom Monera comprises of unicellular
prokaryotic organisms. Some of the bacteria are autotrophic
but vast majority are heterotrophs, i.e., they depend on other
organisms or on dead organic matter for food. They have
peptidoglycan cell wall and genetic material lies freely in the
cytoplasm, known as nucleoid. Ribosomes are 70S in nature.
10. (c)
11. (b) : To make taxonomic position of some species more
precise, intermediate sub categories like subdivision, sub family,
super order, sub order, etc. have been added. Subfamily is an
intermediate rank, next below family.
12. (d) : Polemoniales is an order which includes Families
Convolvulaceae, Solanaceae, etc.
13. (c) : Archaebacteria differ from other bacteria in
structure, composition and physiology. This was not included in
five kingdom classification of R.H. Whittaker.
14. (b) : Viruses are unable to live independent of a living
cell. They parasitise a living cell and take over its biosynthetic
machinery to synthesise its DNA, proteins and other chemicals
required for their multiplication. They do not have any energy
storing system. They do not even respire.
15. (a) : The name of plant family ends with - aceae. The name
of animal family ends with – idae.
16. (c) : The number of similar characters of categories
decreases from lowest rank to highest rank in a taxonomic
hierarchy. Out of the given categories, i.e., family, class, genus
and order, genus being the lowest category possesses the
maximum similar characters.
17. (c) : Phenetic system of classification is based on affinities,
similarities and dissimilarities of characteristics present in the
present day organisms without searching for the evolution and
diversification of these traits in their fossil ancestors.
18. (d) : National Museum of Natural History is located in
Delhi.
19. (a) : Among the given taxonomical ranks class; family,
genus and species, class is the highest rank. Highest rank
contains less similar organisms/characters.
20. (b) : R. H. Whittaker (1969) proposed a five kingdom
classification. The main criteria for classification used by him
include cell structure, thallus organisation, mode of nutrition,
21. (a) : Mycoplasma possesses envelope system and lack
organised nucleus. The genetic material is represented by a
single DNA duplex which is naked because of absence of histone
association.
22. (c) : Kingdom Protista is divided into groups :
chrysophytes, dinoflagellates, euglenoids, slime moulds and
protozoans. Chrysophytes include diatoms and desmids.
23. (b)
24. (b) : Musca domestica is a housefly that belongs to Class
Insecta of Phylum Arthropoda.
25. (b) : As we go higher in taxonomic hierarchy, from species
to kingdom, the number of common characteristics goes on
decreasing. Lower the taxa, more are the characteristics that the
members within the taxa share.
26. (b) : Order being the higher category is the assemblage of
families which exhibit a few similar characteristics.
27. (d) : Ascus – Penicillium
Basidium – Agaricus
Protista – Euglena
Cyanobacteria – Spirulina
Animalia – Sponges
28. (d) : In myxomycetes plant body is naked, amoeboid,
multinucleate; protoplast often called pseudoplasmodium e.g.
Physarum, Stemonitis, etc.
29. (a) : Cladistics or cladistic taxonomy is a type of
phylogenetic classification which searches similarity due to
common phylogenetic origin from a common ancestor.
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30. (b) : Slime moulds do not have chlorophyll. They are
surrounded by the plasma membrane only (somatic parts are
without cell walls). The slime moulds live usually amongst
decaying vegetation. They are quite common on lawns and
moist fields. They exhibit wide range of colouration. They have
phagotrophic or saprotrophic nutrition.
31. (b) : Key is a taxonomical aid used for identification of
plants and animals based on the similarities and dissimilarities.
The keys are based on the contrasting characters generally in a
pair called couplet. It represents the choice made between two
opposite options. This results in acceptance of only one and
rejection of the other. Each statement in the key is called a lead.
Separate taxonomic keys are required for each taxonomic category
such as family, genus and species for identification purposes.
32. (b) 33. (a) 45. (d) : Museums often have collections of skeletons of
34. (a) : Colletotrichum belongs to a group called “imperfect
fungi” or deuteromycetes. Deuteromycetes are a large number
of true fungi whose sexual stages (perfect stages) are either
unknown or not commonly found. Since only the imperfect
stages (asexual stages) of these fungi are known, they are
called the fungi imperfecti and are grouped in the “form class’’
deuteromycetes.
35. (a) : Cytokinesis is the division of protoplast of a cell into
two daughter cells after the nuclear division or karyokinesis,
so that each daughter cell comes to have its own nucleus. Cell
organelles (mitochondria, plastids, Golgi bodies, lysosomes,
endoplasmic reticulum, ribosomes) are also distributed between
the two daughter cells. Sometimes, cytokinesis does not follow
karyokinesis. It produces multinucleate condition known as
coenocyte or syncytium.
36. (a) : Kingdom Monera includes primitive type of
organisms which are prokaryotes—mycoplasma, actinomycetes,
bacteria and cyanobacteria. Protista, plants and animals are
included in eukaryotes.
37. (d) : Binomial nomenclature (given by Linnaeus) is the
system of providing organisms with appropriate and distinct
names consisting of two words—first generic (represents genus)
and second specific (represents species). E.g., in Homo sapiens,
homo refers to genus and sapiens refers to species.
38. (d) : Morels and truffles which are members of Fungi
are classified under Class Ascomycetes, commonly known as
sac-fungi. Morels and truffles are edible and are considered as
delicacies.
39. (d) : Bacterial viruses (bacteriophages) e.g., T2, T4, lambda
have double stranded DNA.
40. (d) : Cell wall of bacteria and blue green algae are made
up of peptidoglycan, proteins, non-cellulosic carbohydrates,
lipids, etc. Peptidoglycan forms structural network of cell
wall. Peptidoglycan consists of long glycan strands formed of
repeating units of N-acetyl glucosamine and N-acetyl muramic
acid.
41. (d) : All organisms, from primitive prokaryotes to most
advanced and complex eukaryotes, are able to sense and
respond to environmental factors. The stimuli are perceived
by sense organs in higher animals through sensory receptors
e.g., eyes, ears, nose. Plants do not possess such sense organs.
However, they do respond to external factors such as light, water,
temperature, pollutants, other organisms, etc. Human beings
have an additional facility of self consciousness (awareness of
self). Consciousness and response to stimuli are said to be the
defining properties of living organisms.
42. (d) 43. (c)
44. (a) : Catalogue is list or register that enumerates
methodically all the species found in a particular place, often
with brief description aiding identification.
animals.
46 (a)
47. (a) : Adolf Engler first published his phylogenetic system
of classification as a guide to the botanical garden of Breslau
(1892), and later expanded it in a monumental work called
“Die Naturlichen Pflanzen Familien” (means identification
of the genera of whole plant kingdom) in collaboration with
Engler and Prantl. This publication continued with numerous
volumes, many supplements, syllabi and revisions from 1895 to
the present day.
48. (b) : The sexual spores of ascomycetes are called ascospores
which are produced endogenously in sac like asci. These asci
are arranged in types of fruiting bodies called ascocarps, e.g.,
Claviceps, Neurospora and Aspergillus.
49. (a) : Virus cannot grow on nonliving culture medium. It
requires living cells for its metabolism and multiplication.
50. (b) : In same fungi (ascomycetes and basidiomycetes)
during sexual reproduction, an intervening dikaryotic stage
(n + n, i.e., two nuclei per cell occurs), such a condition is called
a dikaryon and the phase is called dikaryotic phase of fungus.
51. (b)
52. (c) : Rhizopus stolonifer (R. nigricans) is popularly known
as black bread mould or common bread mould.
53 (b) : In basidiomycetes, a basidium produces four
meiospores or basidiospores exogenously at the tip of the fine
outgrowths called sterigmata.
54. (c)
55. (a) : In virus nuclear acid can be DNA or RNA while
viroid is formed of only RNA. Molecular weight of a viroid is
low. Virus infect all type of organisms. viroid is known to infect
only plants.
56. (c)
57. (c) : The euglenoid have two flagella usually one long
and one short. Each flagellum arises from a basal granule or
blepharoplast. The flagella bear hair called tinsels.

58. (b)
59. (d) : During lytic phase of viral reproduction the viral
genome after entering the host cell starts multiplication of
its genome and synthesis of its proteins with the help of host
cell machinery. These combine to form new viruses which are
released by host cell rupturing. While in lysogenic phase the
viral genome becomes integrated into host genome.
60. (d) : Lichen is a composite organism consisting of a fungus
living in intimate association with one or more photosynthetic
partners, that may be either a green alga or a cyanobacterium.
Due to presence of the photosynthetic partner lichens produce
their food by photosynthesis process. In lichens, the symbiotic
partners help each other, alga provides the fungus with food
particularly carbohydrates produced by photosynthesis and, the
fungus absorbs, stores and supplies water and minerals required
by the alga.
61. (c) : Viruses are obligate parasites because they do not
reproduce and do not have any other activities outside a host
cell.
62. (c) 63. (b)
64. (c) : In Amoeba proteus, nucleus is a single large flattened,
discoidal and slightly biconcave disc like a human erythrocyte.
It may be lying anywhere in the endoplasm. The nucleus is
granular and refractive to light. It is bounded by a thin nuclear
membrane which is double and intercepted by pores.
65. (c) : In freshwater protozoans, the function of contractile
vacuole is hydrostatic or osmoregulatory. Water in freshwater
protozoan enters the organism by endosmosis and during
feeding. The cytoplasm of a freshwater protozoan represents
a medium denser than surrounding water and outermost
plasmalemma acts as a semi- permeable membrane. Thus water
continuously flows inside to dilute the cytoplasm. The vacuole
periodically increases in volume (diastole) to get filled with
water and contracts (systole) to discharge its water content to
the surrounding environment. When freshwater protozoan is
placed in marine water which is denser (hypertonic) than its
cytoplasmic medium, then contractile vacuoles will discharge
water content in the marine water and will disappear.
66. (d) : Phycomycetes are a group of algal fungi which have
coenocytic and nonseptate hyphae. They are the most primitive
fungi and during sexual reproduction forms the zygospore. e.g.
Mucor, Rhizopus. Basidiomycetes are called as club fungi as they
possess club shaped mycelium called basidium.
67. (a) : Bacterial ribosomes are small submicroscopic
ribonucleoprotein entities having a size of 20 nm × 14 - 15 nm
and sedimentation coefficient of 70S. They are of two type - free
and fixed. Fixed ribosomes are attached to plasma membrane
while free ribosomes are found in cytoplasmic matrix. As
bacteria are prokaryotes, ER and nucleus are absent.
68. (d) : Life cycle of plants has two distinct phases the diploid
sporophytic and the haploid gametophytic.
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69. (d) : Chrysophytes – Diatoms
Dinoflagellates – Gonyaulax
Euglenoids – Euglena
Protozoans – Paramecium
70. (b) : The given figure of Amoeba shows the process of
phagocytosis. Amoeba is carnivorous and its mode of nutrition
is holozoic, i.e., it feeds by phagocytosis, a mechanism in which
the food is engulfed in a solid form.
71. (a) : The mycelium is branched and septate in
basidiomycetes. Fusion of two nuclei is called karyogamy. Truffles
are edible ascomycetes with tuber-like subterranean ascocarps
that are often dug out with the help of trained dogs and pigs.
72. (b) : The white spots seen on the mustard leaves are due to a
parasitic fungus. Fungi prefer to grow in warm and humid places.
73. (a) 74. (c)
75. (c) : Prions were discovered by Prusiner.
76. (d)
77. (d) : The genera which have only one species are called
monotypic genera. Amborella is a monotypic genera, while
Solanum, Panthera and Felis are polytypic genera.
78. (a) : The size of alfalfa mosaic virus is 17 nm.
79. (d)
80. (b) : Natural system studies homology in characters viz.
morphology, anatomy molecular systematics etc. An artificial
system may use habit and habitat as criteria for grouping.
81. (c) : Sporangiospore, conidia and zoospore are the asexual
reproductive structure in fungi. An oospore is a thick walled
sexual spore that develops from a fertilised oosphere in some
algae, fungi and oomycetes.
82. (b) : The term division is used for the plants while the
term phylum is used for animals.
83. (a)
84. (c) : Archaebacteria are characterised by absence of
peptidoglycan in their cell. Instead the wall contains protein and
noncellulosic polysaccharides. It has pseudomurein in some
methanogens. Archaebacteria are able to survive in extreme
harsh habitat balance of special lipids in the cell membrane
occurrence of mucilage covering and presence of special
resistant enzymes.
85. (c)
86. (d) : Deuteromycetes or Deuteromycotina is an artificial
class of fungi which has been created to include all those fungi
in which sexual stage is either absent or not known.
87. (a) : The Mycoplasma are organisms that completely lack
cell wall. They are the smallest living cells and can survive
without oxygen.
88. (c) 89. (a)
90. (c)