1. The Living World

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Ø  Term BIOLOGY used scientifically, firstly by German Physiologist G.R Triviranus.

Ø  TAXONOMY:- (Gr; taxis-arrangement; nomos-Laws) coined by A. P de Candolle (1835).

Ø  Life is unique, complex organization of ions & molecules which performs certain chemical reactions in order to bring about life activities.

Ø  99% matter composed of C,H,O,N basis of life. PROTOPLASM – Physical basis of life (Huxley, 1863).

Ø  CHARACTERS OF LIVINGS:- Definite shape & size, Organization, Growth & Development, REPRODUCTION, METABOLISM, HOMEOSTASIS, CONCIOUSNESS (response to stimuli^), Healing or Repair, Excretion, Adaptation, Evolution, Death.

Ø  SYSTEMATICS:-  “Study of Biodiversity & its Origin”. Coined by C. Linnaeus(1735).

Ø  CONCEPTS OF SYSTEMATICS:- “Systematics (Gr. Order or Sequence) is the scientific study that attempts to recognize , describe, name & arrange, the diverse organisms according to an organized plan based on the unique features of that group”.

Ø  LEVELS OF ORGANIZATIONS(Biological) :- Organelle – cell-tissue- organ – Organ System – Organism – Population – communities – Eco-system – Biome – Biosphere.

Ø  Systematics includes: - IDENTIFICATION, CLASSIFICATION, NOMENCLATURE, and TAXONOMY.

Ø  Biosystematics:- A branch of Systematics dealing with variations within a species & its general evolution.

Ø  IDENTIFICATION:-Finding the correct name and proper order in the plan of classification(with the help of keys) or arranging for the same if the specimen/type study is a new one.

Ø  CLASSIFICATION:- Scientific & systematic ordering & grouping of organisms in a Hierarchy of Groups based on similarities & differences of characters (morphological, evolutionary & other relations)

Ø  HISTORY OF CLASSIFICATION:-

v  Vedic period (2500-650 BC) recorded 740 plants & 250 animals. First classification (CHANDYOGA UPNISHAD) classified animals into  groups based on birth processes:- Viviparous(Jivija)eg. mammals, Oviparous(Andaja)eg. Birds/reptiles & Vegetal Origin(Udbhija)eg. Minute lives.

v  Post Vedic ‘Susruta Samhita’ (600BC) classify them as Immobile (Sthavar) & Mobile (Jangam).

v  Aristotal (Father of Biology/Zoology) divided on the basis of Blood (Enaima) & no blood (Anaima). He was the first to recognize that ‘Dolphin’ is a Mammal and not fish.

v  Theophrastus (Father of Botany) Original name ‘Tyrtamus’. Divided plants into-  Tree, Shrub, Undershrub & Herb (with further sub-divisions into Wild & Cultivated/ Flowering-Non Flowering/ Deciduous-Evergreen/Superior –inferior ovary/ Free-Fused Petal/ Fruit Type)

v  Book by Theophrastus :- “ De Historia Plantarum”

v  Indian Scholars:- Parasara (250-120 BC) Charaka (1^st centuary AD)- Charak Samhita (Ayurveda)

v  Pliny the Elder (First Artificial Classification) wrote 37 volumes ( 9 vol. on Medicinal Plants) in his work “Naturalis Historia”.

v  Saint Albertus Magnus (1193-1280) Called Dr. Universalis & nicknamed as Aristotle of Middle Ages. First to divide Monocot-Dicot, Vascular – Non-Vascular plants.

v  German Botanist Carl von Linne. Liste “ Otto Brunfels” among the “Father of Botany”.

v  William Turner (1508 – 1568) “ Father of English Botany”

v  French naturalist Pierre Belon(1517 -1564) extensively categorized Birds.( Relevant even Today).

v  Italian Botanist Andrea Casalpino – “ First Plant Taxonomist”.

v  Gaspard Bauhin (Swiss Botanist) introduced “ BINOMIAL NOMENCLATURE”.

v  John Ray (1627-1705) – Termed ‘Animal Species’. “Father of English Natural History”. Book called Historia Plantarum, Applied Concept of Species. J.P de Tournefort (Concept of GENUS)

v  Carolus Linneaus (1707-1778):- “FATHER OF TAXONOMY” wrote ‘Systems Naturae’ & ‘Species Plantarum’. Termed “TAXON”. (included Homo sapiens in his classifications)

Ø  BASIS OF CLASSIFICATION: -

v  NOMENCLATURE:- Naming of organisms. For ‘Quick Identification’. Linnaeus used LATINIZED words. Poly nomial, Binomial, Trinomial nomenclature.

Ø  ICZN, ICBN,ICNB (Bacterial), International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes (ICSP). The current Code of Nomenclature “Saint Louis Code” (1999) supersedes ‘Tokyo Code’ (1993).

Ø  BIONOMIAL NOMENCLATURE (C. Linnaeus in ‘Systema Naturae, 1758)

v  Each organism to be given a single name with two parts(Binomial system) –First GENUS and second SPECIES, sometimes third variant/ race name also (TRINOMIAL).

v  Law of Priority is followed – Two same names given to two different organisms, then first one is kept and second is discarded/changed.

v  Scientific Names are written in Latin or Greek. Names from Other languages are also Latinized.

v  The name of GENUS is a single word (Nominative Singular)

v  Specific name may be single or compound word, usually Adjective, in grammatical agreement with Genus.

v  In a kingdom, the Generic name appears only once but a specific name may be repeated. Eg. Mangifera indica & Tamarindus indicus ( in Latin, the gender of specific name follows the gender of generic name, hence the difference in word ending)but two species of one genus can’t be same.

v  If a name is changed due to some reasons, the name of original author is written in Parenthesis.

v  Generic & common name ; also generic & specific name

v  Scientific Names printed in ITALICS (except when written as a title of a paragraph). If hand written or typed , it is Underlined. (for Distinction from others).

v  Genus begins with capital letter, species and sub species are written in running, ( a botanical species may start with capital letter if denotes a person or a place). Genus may be abbreviated as a letter only. Eg. Human Being is named Homo sapiens sapiens or H. sapiens (L. homo = man; sapiens = wise).

v  Name of Author(full or Abbreviations) may also follows in technical descriptions where it is not italicized. Eg. Rana tigrina Daud, Mangifera indica Linn.

v   can be same. Eg. Gorilla is both common as well as generic name, also Gorilla gorilla, Catala catala.

v  Specimen on the name of which species name is derived, is called TYPE SPECIMEN.

v  Name of an animal family is formed by adding –idea to name of genus, name of subfamily by adding  -inae. Eg. Cervidae is a family of deer having generic name Cervus.

TYPE SPECIFICATION:- ü  HOLOTYPE: The original type specimen from which the description of a new species is established. ü  ISOTYPE: Duplicate of Holotype (like another branch of same tree) ü  LECTOTYPE: Specimen selected from the original type, to serve as nomenclature type, where there  is no Holotype present. ü  NEOTYPE: New Nomenclature type when Original is missing. ü  PARATYPE: any other specimen described with Holotype. ü  SYNTYPE: any of the Two or more specimen cited by the author, when there is no Holotype.

Ø  PHYLOGENY:- Evolutionary History of an Organism.

Ø  TAXONOMY:-  Various categories are:-- SPECIES – GENUS – FAMILY – ORDER – CLASS – PHYLUM / DIVISION (Botany) – KINGDOM – DOMAIN – LIVING WORLD. ‘Phylum’ was introduced by George Cuvier.

Ø  SPECIES:- Biological Species Concept by Ernst Mayr (1963) “ a group of potentially interbreeding population”

Ø  DIVERSITY OF LIVING WORLD:-

v  Biological Diversity (Raymond F. Dasmann,1968); “BIODIVERSITY” – W.G Rosen(1985). Total 1.8million species have been named so far. Mostly Insects, Plants, Fishes (least Mammals). 59% live in temperate zone, 35% in Tropics & 6% in poles.

Ø TAXONOMIC AIDS

v  HERBARIUM: collections of preserved plant (local)specimens (whole plant or part) dried –mounted on sheet or preserved in alcohol or other preservatives. Helpful in taxonomic comparisons, environmental changes at a place, source of plant DNA for molecular systematics.

LARGEST HERBARIA IN THE WORLS (Top 5):- 1.    NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, PARIS (FRANCE) 2.    NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN , BRONX (USA) 3.    KOMAROV Botanical Institute, St. Petersburg, RUSSIA. 4.    ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDEN,KEW(UK) 5.    BOTANICAL GARDEN GENEVA (SWITZERLAND)

v  BOTANICAL GARDENS: places where plants like ferns, conifers & flowering plants are displayed for conservation,  research & education. ARBORETUMS (BG’s specialized in Trees). INDIAN BOTANICAL GARDEN, Shibpur, Howra, Near Kolkata (W.B) is the largest in India (famous for the largest tree in the world- The Great Banyan Tree or Ficus benghalensis)

SOME IMPORTANT BOTANICAL GARDENS IN INDIA:- 1.    NATURAL BOTANICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE (NBRI) LUCKNOW, (U.P) 2.    GURU NANAK DEV BOTANICAL GARDEN, AMRITSAR (PUNJAB) 3.    INSTITUTE OF FOREST GENETICS & TREE BREEDING, COIMBATORE (TN) 4.    NARAYNA GURUKULA BOT. SANCTUARY, NORTH WYNAD (KERALA) 5.    BOT.GARDEN “Dr. H S Gour Vishwavidhyalaya” SAGAR (M.P)

v  MUSEUM: A permanent building or place for the service of society which acquires, conserves, researches & exhibits heritage of humanity. Museums may be –Natural History, Science & Tech., Biological, Anthropology etc..

v  ZOOLOGICAL PARKS: Zoo are places where wild animals are kept for protective conservation. They give first hand experience of feeding & behavior related informations about wild animals. They also helps in Captive Breeding Programs. India has 64 large & 194 medium sized zoos. They are managed under the Central Zoo authority & run by Govt. & private Organizations.

SOME IMPORTANT ZOOLOGICAL PARKS IN INDIA:- 1.    Alipore zoo. Garden, Kolkata (W.B) – FIRST ZOO IN INDIA (01/01/1876) 2.    Allen Forest Zoo, Kanpur (U.P) 3.    Arignar Anna Zoo (Vandalur Zoo) Chennai (TN) 4.    Guwahati Zoo (Assam) 5.    Indira Gandhi Zoo. Park, Vishakhapattanam (Andhra Pradesh) 6.    Jiamata Udhyaan, Mumbai (Maharashtra) 7.    Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoo Park, Darjeeling (W.B) 8.    Sakkarbaug Zoo, Junagadh (Gujarat) 9.    Sanjay Gandhi Jaivik Udhyaan, Patna (Bihar)

v  KEY: Couplets (informations as paired contrasting characters) LEAD (each statement in the key). Analytical in nature. (A) INDENTED \YOLKED: - They are Dichotomous keys eg. Classifications given as charts in books. (B) BRACKETED: - lead statements are given along with page no. in bracket so as to skip the leads when finished.

COMPETITION HISTORY:

ü  The living steady state has a self regulatory mechanism which is : (A) homeostasis (B) feed back mechanism (C) Homozygosity (D) homotherms                                                     {Kerala PMT 2004}

ü  Biological Organization Starts with: (A) atom (B) cell (c) organism (D) molecule          {AIPMT 2007}

ü  Aristotle is associated with;: (A) parallelism (B) Biogenetic law (C) scala naturae (D) catatrophism {DPMT 2008}

ü  Father of Botany is (A) Aristotle (B) Linnaeus (C) Theophrastus (D) Leeuwenhoek    {Pb. PMT 2008)

ü  Binomial Nomenclature was given by (A) Aristotle (B) Darwin (C) Linnaeus (D) A P de Candolle                                                                                                         {CMC Vellore 2008 ; Pb. PMT 2008}

ü  Term species coined by (A) Engler (B) Aristotle (C) Linnaeus (D) John Ray          {Karnataka CET 2004}

ü  ICBN stands for -----                                                            { BV Pune 2004; AIPMT 2007; AMU 2014 }

ü  Identify the correct sequence: Class, Family, Species, Genus, Ordr                       {Karnataka CET 2001}

ü  Which taxa covers most number of organisms : Class, Order, Genus, Phylum           {Kerala PMT 2001}

ü  Indian Botanical Garden is located at : Chennai/Kolkata/Lucknow/Dehradun     { Chandigarh CET 2010}

ü  Which Taxonomic aid gives Complete compiled information of a family or genus at a particular time (A)Monograph (B)Herbarium (C)Key (D)Zoo                                                   {Kerala PMT 2009}

ü  Indian Share of Global species diversity is about:- 2% /4%/ 6%/ 8%                   {AMU 2010}

ü  Which of them have highest no. of spp. :- Insects/Birds/Fungi/Angiosperms     {AIPMT 2011}

ü  Main cause behind distruction of biodiversity: pollution/hunting/deforestation/competition{BH 2012}

ü  Which has largest species variety in India: rice/potato/wheat/maize                     {AIMMS 2012}

ü  Which is a hotspot of Biodiversity: Eastern Ghats/Gangetic Plains/ Sunderban/ W. Ghats {AIPMT 2012} 

ü  Grouping of organisms of any rank with similar trait : taxon/Family/Species/category  {AFMC 2011}

ü  Which of the following is not in-situ Conservation……………                                       {WB-JEE 2012}

ü  Which represent maximum no. of species among global biodiversity: algae,fungi,lichen,Bryophyta {NEET-UG 2013}