CH:1- THE LIVING WORLD

Characteristics of Living Organisms: 

Growth- In plants growth happens throught out the life time, Unicellular- cell division. Increase in body mass, This
is exhibited by non living organisms.
Reproduction- Fungus – spores, Lower plants- fragmentation, Planaria- fragmented cell regenerate, Amoeba-
fission. There are many organism cannot reproduce- Mule, worker honey bee, Non living organism replicate itself.
Metabolism- Biological actions – The sum total of all chemical reactions occur in our body,
Cellular organization - ,
Self Consciousness - ability to sense environment,
Self-replicating and Self regulation- interactive system capable of responding to external stimuli. Molecular level-
organ level
 Reproduction and growth are NOT defining properties. (in unicellular organism the increase in number of
cells is considered as growth as well reproduction)
 Metabolism, cellular organization, and consciousness are defining properties.

Nomenclature: “system of naming organisms”. standardize the naming of living organism such that a particular
organism is known by the name all over the world. Region, Place
Identification: nomenclature or naming is only possible when the organism is described correctly and we known to
what organism the name is attached to.
Need for classification:
To organize the vast number of plants and animals into categories that could be named, remembered, studied
and understood.
Rules for Nomenclature:
 Latinized names are used, written in italics - Mangifera indica (Mango india)
 First word represents the genus, second word is species name.
 First word starts with capital letter while species name written in small letter.
 Printed in italics;
 If handwritten then underline separately. Mangifera indica

Common name Scientific name

Honey Bee Apis

Pigeon Columba livia

Human Homo sapiens

Ant Formicidae

Arabian camel Camelus dromedarius

African elephant Loxodonta

Albatross Diomedeidae

Alpaca Vicugna pacos

Asian Elephant Elephas maximus

Bat Chiroptera
Bird Aves

Brown Tree Snake Boiga irregularis

Gaur Bos gaurus

Goat Capra aegagrus hircus

Bear Ursidae

Polar bear Ursus maritimus

Sun bear Helarctos malayanus

Blackbuck Antilope cervicapra

Black rat Rattus rattus

Buffalo Bubalus bubalis

Bulbul Pycnonotidae

Butterfly Rhopalocera

Cat Felis catus

Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus

Chinkara Gazella bennettii

Cobra Naja

Cockroach Blattodea

Common Myna Acridotheres tristis

Cow Bos taurus

Crocodile Crocodylus palustris

Deer Cervidae

Dog Canis lupus familiaris

Dolphin Cetacea

Eagle Accipitridae

Elephant Elephantidae

fish Vertebrata

Red fox Vulpes vulpes

Gavial or Gharial Gavialis gangeticus

Giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis

Great horned owl Bubo virginianus

Hen Gallus gallus domesticus

Hippopotamus Hippopotamus amphibius

Horse Equus caballus

House crow Corvus splendens

Housefly Musca domestica

House mouse Mus musculus

House sparrow Passer domesticus

House wall Lizard Hemidactylus flaviviridis

Indian Cobra Naja naja

parrot Psittaciformes

Indian Python Python molurus

Kashmir stag or hangul Cervus canadensis hanglu

King cobra Ophiophagus hannah

Koel Eudynamys scolopaceus

Leopard or panther Panthera pardus

Monkey Simiiformes (infraorder)

Mosquito Culicidae

Lion Panthera leo

Lizard Squamata

Nilgai Boselaphus tragocamelus

Peacock Pavo cristatus

Pig Sus

Prawn Dendrobranchiata

Rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus

Rat Rodentia

Rat snake Ptyas mucosa

 Rattle snake Crotalinae

Rhesus monkey Macaca mulatta

Rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis

Sea snake Hydrophiinae

Sheep Ovis aries

Siberian crane Grus leucogeranus

Snakehead Channidae

Sparrow Passer domesticus

Spider Araneae

Starfish Asteroidea

Who propose the name for the organisms?

ICZN:  International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (for giving scientific name to animals.) National University of
Singapore, Singapore
ICBN: International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (for giving scientific name to plants.) The formal starting date
of plant nomenclature is 1 May 1753, it is the publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus (the name was changed
at the International Botanical Congress in Melbourne in July 2011)- International codes of biological
nomenclature.
Taxonomy: Study of principles and procedures of classification.
Binomial Nomenclature: Given by Carolus Linnaeus. Each scientific name has two components - Generic name +
Specific epithet.
Systematics:  It deals with classification of organisms based on their diversities and relationships among them. Term
was proposed by Carolus Linnaeus who wrote ‘Systema Naturae’.
Taxonomic Hierarchy: Arrangement of various steps (categories or taxa Species → Genus → Family → Order →
Class → Phylum (for animals) /Division (for plants) Kingdom.
Species: All the members that can interbreed among themselves and can produce fertile offsprings are the
members of same species. This is the bio-logical concept of species proposed by Mayer.
Genus: biological classification ranking, consisting of structurally or phylogenetically related species or a single
isolated species exhibiting unusual differentiation.
Family: A taxonomic group of one or more genera, especially sharing a common attribute.
Order: comprised of families sharing a set of similar nature or character.
Class refers to plant classification
Phylum is referred in animal classification systems

Three Domains of Life: Proposed by Carl Woese in 1990 who also proposed the six kingdom classification for living
organisms. The three Do-mains are Archaea, Eubacteria and Eukarya.
Taxonomical Aids:
1. It helps in the study of plants and animals and is used in agriculture, forestry, industry etc. 
2. Taxonomical aids are the samples or collection of samples of preserved organisms that help in the research
of taxonomic hierarchy
Herbarium: Storehouse of dried, pressed and preserved plant specimen on sheets.-
 The biggest herbarium of our country is at the Indian Botanic Garden, Calcutta, possessing about one million
specimens.
 The herbarium of the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun has about 3, 00,000 specimens.
 The herbarium of the Division of Botany at I.A.R.I. New Delhi, contains about 3000 specimens.
Botanical Garden: Collection of living plants for reference. 35 gardens
Zoological Park (Places where wild animals are kept in protected environment.)
18 Zoos In India –The Arignar Anna Zoological Park is the largest zoo in India which houses about 2,553 species of flora and
fauna across 1,265 acres and is the largest zoological garden in India

 Keys (Used  for identification of plant and animals on the basis of similarities and dissimilarities.)
 Fauna: (Index to animal species found in a particular area)
 Flora (Index to plant species found in a particular area.)
 Manuals (Provide information for identification of name of species in an area.)
 Monograph (Contain information on one taxon.)