Updated By: LatestGKGS Desk
Five Kingdom Classification System of Plants and Animals, names, characteristics
Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia Kingdoms' characteristics, modes of nutrition, body-organization details
R.H. Whittaker (1969) proposed a Five Kingdom Classification. The kingdoms defined by him were named Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia.
The main criteria for classification used by him include cell structure, thallus organization, mode of nutrition, reproduction and phylogenetic relationships.
five kingdom classification to understand the issues and considerations that influenced the classification system. Earlier classification systems included bacteria, blue-green algae, fungi, mosses, ferns, gymnosperms and the angiosperms under ‘Plants’.
The character that unified this whole kingdom was that all the organisms included had a cell wall in their cells. This placed together groups which widely differed in other characteristics. It brought together the prokaryotic bacteria and the blue-green algae with other groups which were eukaryotic.
It also grouped together the unicellular organisms and the multicellular ones, say, for example, Chlamydomonas and Spirogyra were placed together
under algae.
Characteristics of the Five Kingdoms
| characters | Monera | Protista | Fungi | Plantae | Animalia |
| Cell type | Prokaryotic | Eukaryotic | Eukaryotic | Eukaryotic | Eukaryotic |
| Cell Wall | Noncellulosic (Polysaccharide + amino acid) |
Present in some |
Present (without cellulose |
Present (cellulose) |
Present |
| Nuclear membrane | Absent | Present | Present | Present | Present |
| Body organization | Cellular | Cellular | Multiceullar/ loose tissue |
Tissue/ organ |
Tissue/organ/ organ system |
| Mode of nutrition | Autotrophic (chemosynthetic and photosynthetic) and Heterotrophic (saprophytic/parasitic |
Autotrophic (Photosynthetic) and Heterotrophic |
Heterotrophic (Saprophytic/ Parasitic) |
Autotrophic (Photosynthetic) |
Heterotrophic (Holozoic/ Saprophytic etc.) |
