THE LIVING WORLD

CLASS XI
THE LIVING WORLD
Life is a unique, complex organization of molecules,
expressing through chemical reactions which lead to
growth, development, responsiveness, adaptation &
reproduction.
Life is a biochemical process.
Characteristics of living organisms
Growth
It is the increase in mass and number of cells.
 In plants, growth by cell division occurs continuously
throughout their life span.
 In animals, growth is only up to a certain age.
Non-living objects grow by accumulation of material
on the surface. In living organisms, growth is from
inside.
Shape and size
Living beings have a definite shape and size, which get
modified to some extent when growth occurs.
Living beings have been called as morphous (with
definite shape) and non living objects are called as
amorphous (no definite shape)
Reproduction

 It is the production of progeny similar to those of

parents.
 Organisms reproduce asexually and sexually.
 Growth is the increase in cell number or mass. Hence
in unicellular organisms, growth & reproduction are
same.
Many organisms do not reproduce (e.g. mules, worker
bees, infertile human couples, etc). Hence,
reproduction is not a perfect defining characteristic of
living organisms
Metabolism
It is the sum total of all biochemical reactions taking
place inside a living system.
Isolated metabolic reactions in vitro are not living
things but are living reactions.
It has three types – Anabolism, Catabolism and
Amphibolism.
Anabolism is constructive metabolism
Catabolism is destructive metabolism and
Amphibolism is both.
DIFFERENCE IN BETWEEN
Cellular organization
 They are made up of cells numerous organelles of cell
carry out variety of co-ordinated functions.
It may be of
Unicellular organism
Multicellular and organism
Acellular organism
 Molecules → cell organelles → cells → tissues →
 Consciousness

It is this ability of organisms to sense their

environment and respond to the environmental
stimuli (like light, water, temperature, other
organisms, chemicals, pollutants, etc).
Therefore, all organisms are ‘aware’ of their
surroundings.
 Human is the only organism having self-
consciousness.
DIVERSITY IN THE LIVING WORLD
 The number and types of organisms present on earth
refer to biodiversity.
Number of species described is 1.7-1.8 million.
 Taxonomy (Systematics): It is the study of
identification, classification, nomenclature &
documentation of organisms.
Systematics (Latin ‘systema’) means systematic
arrangement of organisms.
Systema Naturae is the book written by Carolous
Linnaeus
Processes of taxonomy
 Characterization: It is the understanding of
characters of organisms such as external and internal
structure, structure of cell, development process,
ecological information etc.
Identification: Nomenclature is only possible when
the organism is described correctly and we know to
what organism the name is attached to. This is
identification.
Classification: It is the grouping of organisms into
convenient categories (taxa) based on characters.
Cont.
Nomenclature (naming): It is the providing of
standardized names to the organisms such that a particular
organism is known by the same name all over the world.
The system of naming with two components (Binomial
nomenclature) is proposed by Carolous Linnaeus.
Botanical names are based on the rules provided in-
International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN).
Zoological names are based on International Code for
Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN).
Rules of Binomial Nomenclature
Universal rules of nomenclature are as follows:
1. Biological names are generally in Latin and written in
italics. They are Latinised or derived from Latin
irrespective of their origin.
2. The first word in a biological name represents the genus
while the second component denotes the specific epithet.
3. Both the words in a biological name, when handwritten,
are separately underlined, or printed in italics to indicate
their Latin origin.
4. The first word denoting the genus starts with a capital
letter while the specific epithet starts with a small letter. It
can be illustrated with the example of Mangifera indica.
TAXONOMIC CATEGORIES
Classification involves hierarchy of steps in which each
step represents a rank (taxonomic category or taxon).
All categories together constitute the taxonomic
hierarchy.
Each taxon represents a unit of classification
Taxonomic hierarchy with example
 Kingdom - Animalia
↑
 Phylum - Chordata
(Division in case of plants)
↑
 Class - Mammalia
↑
 Order - Primata
↑
 Family - Hominidae
↑
 Genus - Homo
↑
 Species - sapiens
TAXONOMIC CATEGORIES
Species: It is a group of individual organisms with
fundamental similarities. It is the lowest category.
 Genus: It is the aggregates of closely related species.
E.g. Potato, tomato & brinjal are species of genus
Solanum. Lion (Panthera leo), leopard (P. pardus) &
tiger (P. tigris) are species of genus Panthera. This
genus differs from another genus Felis which includes
cats.
Cont.
Family: It is a group of related genera with less
number of similarities as compared to genus and
species. E.g. Family Solanaceae includes Genus
Solanum, Genus Petunia and Genus Datura. Family
Felidae includes Genus Panthera and Genus Felis.
Order: It is the assemblage of related families. E.g.
Order Polymoniales includes Family Convolvulaceae
and Family Solanaceae. Order Carnivora includes
Family Felidae & Family Canidae
Cont.
Class: It is the assemblage of related orders. E.g.
Order Primata, Carnivora etc is placed in class
Mammalia.
Phylum: It is the assemblage of related classes. E.g.
Classes Amphibia, Reptilia, Aves, Mammalia etc come
under phylum Chordata.
Kingdom: The assemblage of various phyla. It is the
highest category. E.g. Kingdom Plantae, Kingdom
Animalia etc.
TAXONOMICAL AIDS
Organisms are to be identified on the basis of
intensive laboratory and field studies. First of all plant
specimens of different species are collected.
They are identified and classified.
Specimens are preserved and stored for future
studies .
Some of the techniques are as follows:
Herbarium
It is a store house (repository) of collected plant
specimens that are dried, pressed and preserved on
sheets and are arranged according to universally
accepted classification.
The herbarium sheets are labelled with information
about date and place of collection, English, local and
botanical names, family, collector’s name etc.
Cont .
Herbarium sheets size should be 29X42 cm
Poisoning can also be done by spraying 0.1% mercuric
chloride solution on the specimens.
Other chemicals also be used like DDT, Carbon
disulphide gas, paradichloro benzene etc.
Some important herbaria are
Central National Herbarium
Forest Research Institute , Dehradun
NBRI,Lucknow
HERBARIUM SHEET
Botanical gardens
These are specialized gardens having collections of
living plants for reference and identification purposes.
Each plant is labeled with its botanical name and
family.
Famous botanical gardens:
 Royal Botanical Garden at Kew (England).
Indian Botanical Garden, Howrah (India).
 National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow
(India).
Museum
 Museum is a collection of preserved plants and
animals for study and reference.
A museum contains specimens preserved in
preservative solutions in containers or jars.
Plant and animal specimens preserved as dry
specimens.
 Insects preserved in insect boxes after collecting,
killing and pinning.
Stuffed larger animals like birds and mammals.
 Collections of animal skeletons.
Zoological Parks (Zoos)

These are the places where live wild animals are kept
in protected environments under human care.
It enables to learn about their food habits and
behaviour.
Key

It is the device used to identify each species in a group

of organisms based on 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.
Flora, Manuals, Monographs & Catalogues
These are some other means of recording descriptions.
They also help in correct identification.
 Flora contains the actual account of habitat and
distribution of plant species of a given area.
 Manuals help in providing information for
identification of names of species found in an area.
Monographs contain information on any one taxon.
END OF CHAPTER