THE LIVING WORLD

Introduction
Diverse form of living organisms are found in different types of habitats
like ocean, fresh water bodies, forests, cold mountains, deserts, hot water
springs etc. This makes us think what is life? The answer requires
differentiating the living and the non- living.
Biodiversity
Large variety of organisms.
Nomenclature
Scientific naming of organisms.
Identification
Correct description of organism prior to nomenclature.
Classification
Grouping of organisms into categories on the basis of similarities and
differences.
Taxon
Concrete biological object or category of classification.
Taxonomy
Study of Identification, nomenclature and classification of organisms.
Systematics
Branch of biology dealing with taxonomy along with evolutionary
relationship between organisms.
Species
Group of Individual organisms with fundamental similarities (with
capacity of interbreeding).

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What is Living?
When we try to define living, we conventionally look for distinctive
characteristics exhibited by living organisms. Growth, reproduction,
ability to sense environment and mount a suitable response come to our
mind immediately as unique features of living organisms. One can add a
few more features like metabolism, ability to self-replicate, self-organize,
interact and emergence to this list. Let us try to understand each of these.
Growth
All living organisms grow. Increase in mass and increase in number of
individuals are twin characteristics of growth. A multi cellular organism
grows by cell division. In plants, growth occurs by cell division
continuously throughout their life span. In animals, the growth occurs only
up to a certain age. Unicellular organisms also grow by cell division. Non-
living objects also grow if we take increase in body mass as a criterion for
growth. However, this growth is external, whereas living things grow from
inside.
Reproduction
It is a characteristic of living organism. Reproduction means the
production of off springs possessing features more or less similar to those
of parents. Fungi reproduce and spread easily by asexual spores they
produce. In lower organisms like yeast and Hydra, budding occurs for
multiplying. In Planaria, a fragmented body part regenerates its lost parts
and becomes a new organism. In bacteria, unicellular algae or Amoeba,
reproduction occurs by the increase in cell number or mass. Non-livings
are not capable for reproduction.
Sensitivity
Living things have the ability to sense their surroundings or environment
and respond to these environmental stimuli, which could be physical,
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chemical and biological. There are several other properties of living
organisms. Briefly, we can say that living organisms are self-replicating,
evolving and self-regulating interactive systems capable of responding to
external stimuli.
Cellular Organisation
It organisms have cellular organisation of the body. Cells are basic
building blocks of the living organisms.
Metabolism
It is the feature of living things. There are several metabolic reactions
occur inside the body of living organisms. The sum total of all the
chemical reactions occurring in our body is called metabolism.
Metabolism has two phases, i.e., anabolism and catabolism.
Anabolism
The process of synthesis of any substance is called anabolism, e.g.
photosynthesis.
Catabolism
The process of breaking up of a substance is called catabolism, e.g.
respiration.
Consciousness
Ability to sense environment & respond to environmental factors
-It is defining property of organisms.
Living organisms can be considered as self replicating, evolving& self-
regulating interactive systems capable of responding to external stimuli.

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Respiration
The earth is also an open system, because it constantly receiving energy
from sun, whereas the universe as a whole is a closed system because
energy does not come in or go out.
All cells require energy and in every kind of organism use ATP as a
source of energy that is why ATP is called as universal energy carrier.
During aerobic respiration, ATPs are formed in mitochondrion that is why
mitochondrion is known as Power house of the cell.
Phosphocreatine or creatine phosphate is the richest source of energy,
which pro vides more free energy (e.g., 43 kJ/mol) than ATP (e.g., 30.5
kJ/mol).
Evolution
Biology is the story of evolution of living organisms on earth. In all living
organismspresent, past and future are linked to one another by the
sharing of the common genetic material but to varying degrees.
Homeostasis
Living things actively maintain their complex structure and their constant
internal structure through a process called homeostasis. The term
Homeostasis was coined by American physiologist Walter Brad ford
Cannon in 1929.

Diversity in the Living World

There is a great diversity among living organisms found on the planet
earth. They differ in their structure, habit, habitat, mode of nutrition, and
physiology. The Biodiversity of the earth is enormous. Current estimates
suggest that the earth may have anywhere from 10 to over 40 million
species of organisms, but only about 1.7 million have actually been
described including over 7,50,000 insects, about 2,50,000 flowering plants
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and 47,000 vertebrate animals. We call such diversity among living
organisms as Biodiversity. Even though there is such a variety and
diversity among them, the living organisms show a lot of similarities and
common features so that they can be arranged into many groups. In order
to understand them and study them systematically, these living organisms,
mainly the plants and animals are grouped under different categories.
Taxonomy
Taxis = orderly arrangement, nomos = law
Taxonomy is the study of principles and procedures of classification.
Taxonomy includes study of following 4 points:
Identification: Identification of living organisms
Nomenclature: Nomenclature of living organisms
Classification: Classification of living organisms in groups
Affinities: Study of inter relationship between living organisms
Systematics (Branch related with taxonomy)
Systematics is a branch of Biology that deals with cataloguing plants,
animals and other organisms into categories that can be named,
remembered, compared and studied.
Study of only one organism of a group provides sufficient information
about the remaining members of that group. Scientists connected with the
study of systematics are called systematists or taxonomists.
Simpson, (1961) has defined systematics as the branch of biology that
deals with the diversity of organisms at every level of classification.
Basics of Systematic Study
Characterization

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The organism to be studied is described for all its morphological and other
characteristics.
Identification
Based on the studied characteristics, the identification of organism is
carried out to know whether it is similar to any of the known group or
taxa.
Classification
The organism is now classified on the basis of its resemblance to different
taxa. It is possible that the organism may not resemble any known taxa or
groups. A new group or taxon is raised to accommodate it.
Nomenclature
After placing the organism in various taxa, its correct name is determined.
If the organism is new to systematics, it is given a new name based on
rules and conventions of nomenclature.
Differences between Classical Taxonomy and Modern Taxonomy
Classical Taxonomy
It deals with morpho species.
It has a typological concept.
Species is considered to be static.
It does not study evolution.
Interrelationship of species is also not studied.
Modern Taxonomy
It is also known as Neo systematic or Biosystematics.
It deals with biological species.
It has a population or biosystematics concept.
Species is considered to be dynamic.

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It studies primitiveness, advancement and inter-relationships of species.
Nomenclature
Often the organisms around us are known by local names which differ
from place to place and language to language. Hence there is a need to
standardize naming them. Scientists have formulated certain procedures to
assign scientific name to each organism. International Code for Botanical
Nomenclature (ICBN) and International code for Zoological
Nomenclature (ICZN) were evolved to assign scientific names for plants
and animals respectively. The scientific name has two components-
Generic name and the specific epithet. This system of naming is called
binomial nomenclature. It was given by Carolus Linnaeus and is used by
biologists all over the world.
Examples: Mangifera indica (mango); Homo sapiens (man)
Here Magnifera and Homo are generic names; indica and sapiens are
specific epithets.
Rules of Nomenclature:
(i) Each biological name has two words- The first word represents genus
and the second represents the specific epithet.
(ii) The words of the name should be separately underlined when hand
written and should be in italics when printed.
(iii) The generic name should start with a capital letter and specific epithet
should start with a small letter.
(iv) The names should be either Latin or Latinized.
(v) Name of the author appears at the end of the scientific name in an
abbreviated form. e.g.: Homo sapiens Linn. It indicates that this
species is first described by Linnaeus.
ICBN International Code of Botanical Nomenclature
ICZN International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
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ICNB International Code for Nomenclature of Bacteria
ICNCP International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants
ICTV International Committee for the Taxonomy of Viruses
Classification
In order to facilitate the study, a number of scientists have established
procedures to assign a scientific name to each known organism.
It is nearly impossible to study all the living organisms, so it is necessary
to devise some means to make this possible, this process is called
classification. It is the process by which anything is grouped into
convenient categories based on some easily observable characters.
It is the arrangement of organisms into groups on the basis of their
affinities or relationships. The modern system of classification began in
1758, when Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778), a Swedish botanist published
the tenth edition of his book Systema Naturae.
Types of Classification
Artificial Classification
It is based on arbitrary, easily observable, single or a few morphological
characters such as habit, colour, number, form or similar features, e.g.,
Linnaeus system of classification.
Natural Classification
It is based on overall similarities or affinities derived from morphology,
anatomy, embryology, phytochemistry, ultrastructure and all other fields
of study, e.g., Bentham and Hookers system.
Phylogenetic Classification
It is based on the evolutionary descent of a group of organisms, the
relationship depicted through a phylogram, phylogenetic tree or a
cladogram, e.g., Engler and Prantls system, Takhtajan classification.

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Taxonomic Categories
It is also called Linnaean hierarchy or taxononmic hierarchy
or Taxonomic classification. It was first proposed by Linaeus. Hierarchy
of categories is the classification of organism in a definite sequence of
categories (taxonomic categories) in a descending order starting from
kingdom. The number of similar characters of categories decreases from
lowest rank to highest rank. The hierarchy includes seven obligate
categories kingdom, division or phylum, class, order, family, genus and
species. The categories are arranged in descending sequence keeping the
kingdom at the top. In order to make taxonomic position of species more
precise, certain categories have been added to this list. They are called
intermediate categories.
There are 7 main taxonomic categories. They are obligate categories i.e,
they are strictly used at the time of any plant classification.
Species
Species (used both as singular and plural) is a natural population of
individuals or group of population which resemble one another in all
essential morphological and also reproductive characters so that they are
able to interbreed freely and produce fertile offspring. Mango is species
indica of genus mangifera (mangifera indica). Potato is species tuberosum
of genus solanum (solanum tuberosum).
Genus
It is a group or assemblage of relate species which resemble one another in
certain correlated characters. Correlated Characters are those similar or
common features which are used in delimitation of a taxon above the rank
of species. All the species of genus are presumed to have evolved from a
common ancestor.

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Family
The next category, Family, has a group of related genera with still less
number of similarities as compared to genus and species. Families are
characterised on the basis of both vegetative and reproductive features of
plant species. Among plants for example, three different
genera Solanum, Petunia andDatura are placed in the family Solanaceae.
Among animals for example, genus Panthera, comprising lion, tiger,
leopard is put along with genus, Felis (cats) in the family Felidae.
Similarly, if you observe the features of a cat and a dog, you will find
some similarities and some differences as well. They are separated into
two different families Felidae and Cancidae, respectively.
Order
The category includes one or more related families. Thus the family
solanaceae is placed in the orderpolemoniales along with four other
related families (convolvulaceae, boraginaceae, hydrophyllaceae and
polemoniaceae). Similarly, the families fekidae and canidae are included
under the order carnivore alongwith hyaenidae (hyaenas) and ursidae
(bears).
Class
A class is made of one or more relates order. For example, the
class dicotyledoneae (dicotyledonae, dictoyledons) of flowering plants
contains all dicots which are grouped into several orders (e,g. Rosales,
passiflorales, polemoniales, sapindales, ranales, etc.) likewise, class
mammalian of animals includes all mammals which range from bats
(order chiroptera),kangaroos (order marsupialia). Rodents (order rodentia),
whales (order cetacean), carnivores (order cornivora) to great apes and
man (order primate).

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Division or phylum
It is a category higher than that of class. The term phylum is used for
animals while division is commonly employed for plants. A division or
phylum is formed of one or more classes. The phylum chordate of
animals contains not class mammalian but also aves (birds), reptilian
(reptiles), amphibian (amphibians), cyclostomata, chondrichthyes,
osteichthyes (fishes) etc.
Kingdom
All animals belonging to various phyla are assigned to the highest
category called Kingdom Animalia in the classification system of animals.
The Kingdom Plantae, on the other hand, is distinct, and comprises all
plants from various divisions. Henceforth, we will refer to these two
groups as animal and plant kingdoms.
The taxonomic categories from species to kingdom have been shown in
ascending order starting with species in Figure. These are broad
categories. However, taxonomists have also developed sub-categories in
this hierarchy to facilitate more sound and scientific placement of various
taxa.

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Look at the hierarchy in Figure.
Can you recall the basis of
arrangement? Say, for example, as
we go higher from species to
kingdom, the number of common
characteristics goes on decreasing.
Lower the taxa, more are the
characteristics that the members
within the taxon share. Higher the
category, greater is the difficulty of
determining the relationship to
other taxa at the same level.
Hence, the problem of
classification becomes more Taxonomic Categories showing hierarchical
complex. arrangement in ascending order

Table: Organisms with their Taxonomic Categories

Common Biological Genus Family Order Class Phylum/Di
Name Name vision
Man Homo Homo Hominidae Primata Mammalia Chordata
sapiens

Housefly Musca Musca Muscidae Diptera Insecta Arthropoda

domestica

Mango Mangifera Mangifera Anacardiac Sapinda Dicotyledon Angiosper

indica eae les ae mae

Wheat Triticuma Triticum Poaceae Poales Monocotyle Angiosper

estivum donae mae

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Taxonomical Aids
Techniques, Procedures and Stored Information that are useful in
Identification and classification of organisms are called taxonomic aids.
They are required because taxonomic study of plants, animals and other
organisms are basic to almost all branches of biological studies for their
proper identification and finding their relationships with others.
Herbarium, botanical gardens, museum, zoological parks (zoos) and key
are important tools used in identification of plants and animals.
Herbarium
Herbarium is a place where dried and pressed plants specimens, mounted
on sheets are kept systematically according to a widely accepted system of
classification. Herbarium is a repository or store house for future use.
Every institute teaching botany, school college or university, has a small
or large herbarium. Very large herbaria are maintained by botanical
gardens and institutes connected with plant systematic.
Every student of botany is required
to collect plant specimens and
prepare herbarium sheets.
Equipment: Digger and pruning
knife, sickle with long handle,
vasculum, polythene bags,
magazines or newspapers, bolting
papers, plant press, field notebook,
herbarium sheets, glue, labels, small
transparent polythene bags.
Herbarium Showing Stored Specimens

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Specimen (herbarium sheet) is of different types
Holotype
Herbarium sheet on which the first description of plant is based.
Lectotype
In case of holotype is lost, second herbarium sheet prepared from the
original plant is called lectotype.
Neotype
In case holotype and original plant is lost then herbarium sheet prepared
from some other plant of same
Syntype
In case holotype and original, plant is lost then many herbarium sheet
prepared from many plants of same species is called syntype.
Isotype
Duplicate of holotype - In presence of holotype a second herbarium sheet
prepared from the original plant is called isotype.
Paratype
Additional herbarium sheet used in the first description of plant is called
para type. It is prepared from some other plant of same species having
some variations.

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Botanical garden
Botanical gardens efficiently large
size tract where plants of different
type and areas of grown for
scientific and educational purposes.
The first real mechanical garden
was developed by Theophrastus
(370-285 B.C.). Of course, garden
was part of Indian Chinese and
roman cultures. Kew (England) Botanical Garden

Hanging Garden of Babylon was considered to be wonders of ancient

time. Modern day Botanical Gardens contains beside outdoor plants,
greenhouse, library, research laboratory herbarium with documented
collections of various taxa. There is an international association of
botanical gardens (established in 1962) which coordinate research and
exchange of plant materials.
The famous botanical gardens are at Kew (England), Indian Botanical
Garden, Howrah (India) and at National Botanical Research institute,
Lucknow (India)
The important functions of botanical gardens are:
(i) Growing important plants of local flora.
(ii) Keeping record of local flora.
(iii) Providing living plant material for systematic work.
(iv) Supplying seeds and materials for different aspect of a Botanical
research.
(v) Growing and maintaining rare and endangered plant.

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Biosphere Reserve
It is a specified land area in which land can be used for various purposes.
Land is divided into different areas which have different functions. The
three main zones are core zone (no human activity), buffer zone (limited
human activity) and manipulation zone (several human activities). Nilgiri
Biosphere Reserve was the first reserve in India. They preserve the wild
life along with genetic makeup of animals.
Museum
It is an exhibition of artistic and
educational things to the common
public. Museums can be of
different types like art, history, and
applied sciences, natural and
general. Art Museums deal with
painting, sculpture and other works
of art.

History Museums are concerned with past life and events. Applied
Science deals with the scientific principles, machinery and industrial
processes. Natural Sciences links to the organisms found in nature like
plants, fossils, rocks and animals.
Uses of Museum
As education & research material, acquisition & exhibition of material
along with recording and preservation of materials. Most of the museums
are found in Northern part of India (Jaipur, Delhi).

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Zoological Parks
Zoological Parks are related to wild life
which denotes the large & popular
animals (tiger, elephant, deer, crocodiles
and whales). Wild life is related to
animals and their natural habitats. It
helps us to maintain ecological balance.
It provides several wood products and
increase in rainfall production. It
provides aesthetic value and gives a
boost to Indian art, culture and literature.
So, wild life should be conserved and
Wild Life Protection Act came in 1972 to
preserve the wild life.
It stated that killing and capturing of wildlife without suitable consent is
punishable under the law. Jammu & Kashmir is the only state in India
where this law is not valid. National Parks, Sanctuaries & Biosphere
Reserves also play a role in conservation of wild life.
Zoological Park is difficult to maintain and is time consuming. It requires
knowledge, experience and hard work. There are many factors responsible
for the establishment of zoological park which include selection of site
(should be approachable, well drained with lots of tress), animals for the
park, public amenities like restaurants, car parks, toilets etc. A regular
electric and water supply along with vigilance and personnel management
(incentives and cash to staff personnel) should be done.
After the park is established the emphasis should be on maintenance. It is
tedious and expensive process. A proper veterinary health care should be
provided. All the animals must be vaccinated. Case history records must
be maintained. A proper care of animals must be taken with adequate food
and male female ratio. The irregular grass areas must be trimmed and
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should be rectified. An attractive hoarding along with proper sign board
must be placed. A literature on animals in the park must be there which
should help in education and research procedures. There are number of
important zoological parks in India.
Key
Key is another 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. Keys are generally analytical in nature.
Flora, manuals, monographs and catalogues are some other means of
recording descriptions. They also help in correct identification. Flora
contains the actual account of habitat and distribution of plants of a given
area. These provide the index to the plant species found in a particular
area. Manuals are useful in providing information for identification of
names of species found in an area. Monographs contain information on
any one taxon.

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