classification-systems-and-the-five-kingdoms MCQs for UPSC Prelims

25 practice questions on classification-systems-and-the-five-kingdoms from the Patterns in Life: Diversity and Classification section of the UPSC Prelims syllabus. 25 come with a written explanation. Try the sample set below - the answer stays hidden until you ask for it.

8 Easy 12 Medium 5 Hard

Sample questions

Q1
medium
Aristotle grouped animals as those of land, those of water and those of air. What was the main limitation of a system like this?
  1. A It required a knowledge of DNA, which was not available then
  2. B It placed every animal in one single group, so no comparison was possible
  3. C It rested on easily seen outward features, which can be alike in quite unrelated animals
  4. D It depended on the microscope, which was not accurate enough at the time
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Correct answer: C - It rested on easily seen outward features, which can be alike in quite unrelated animals

Sorting by habitat and outward appearance places a bat with a bird and a whale with a fish, because it captures surface resemblance rather than real relationship. Aristotle had no microscope at all, his system did form several groups rather than one, and it never claimed to use genetic information.
Q2
medium
Yeast is a single-celled organism, yet it is placed in Kingdom Fungi. Which feature justifies this placement?
  1. A It has no membrane-bound nucleus
  2. B Its cell wall is made of chitin
  3. C Its body is made of many cells joined into filaments
  4. D It makes its own food by photosynthesis
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Correct answer: B - Its cell wall is made of chitin

Yeast is grouped with the fungi because its cell wall is made of chitin, even though it is not multicellular. Yeast is a eukaryote and does have a true nucleus. It cannot photosynthesise, and it is precisely not filamentous, which is why its placement needed explaining at all.
Q3
medium
A newly found organism is a eukaryote, is multicellular, has a cell wall made of cellulose and makes its own food by photosynthesis. Into which kingdom does it go?
  1. A Monera
  2. B Protista
  3. C Fungi
  4. D Plantae
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Correct answer: D - Plantae

A multicellular eukaryote with a cellulose cell wall that photosynthesises matches Kingdom Plantae on every criterion. Fungi have cell walls of chitin and cannot make their own food. Protista are single-celled eukaryotes, and Monera are prokaryotes with no true nucleus.
Q4
easy
In the two kingdom system, an organism was placed in Plantae if it showed which pair of features?
  1. A It was single-celled and had no true nucleus
  2. B It moved from place to place and it made its own food
  3. C It did not move from place to place and it depended on others for food
  4. D It did not move from place to place and it made its own food
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Correct answer: D - It did not move from place to place and it made its own food

The two kingdom system defined plants as organisms that stay in one place and synthesise their own food, and animals as organisms that move about and depend on others for food. Moving about was the animal feature, and depending on others for food was also an animal feature. Being single-celled without a true nucleus describes bacteria, which the system could not place at all.
Q5
medium
An unlabelled slide shows a single-celled organism with a clearly visible nucleus and many short hair-like structures beating along its surface. To which kingdom does it most likely belong?
  1. A Monera
  2. B Animalia
  3. C Fungi
  4. D Protista
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Correct answer: D - Protista

One cell with a true nucleus is a unicellular eukaryote, which is the definition of Protista, and Paramecium, covered in beating hair-like structures, is a familiar example. Monerans have no true nucleus. Fungi and animals are treated as multicellular groups here, and neither is a free-swimming single cell of this kind.
Q6
hard
An organism growing on a forest floor is multicellular and eukaryotic, has a cell wall, contains no chlorophyll, and draws nutrients from a living tree through fine filaments that grow into its bark. In which kingdom does it belong?
  1. A Protista, because it grows as fine filaments
  2. B Fungi, because it is a multicellular eukaryote with a cell wall that absorbs food from another organism
  3. C Animalia, because it feeds on another organism
  4. D Plantae, because it is multicellular and has a cell wall
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Correct answer: B - Fungi, because it is a multicellular eukaryote with a cell wall that absorbs food from another organism

A cell wall combined with no chlorophyll and food absorbed through filaments describes a fungus, here living as a parasite on a tree. Plants contain chlorophyll and make their own food. Animals do depend on others for food but have no cell wall, and Protista contains single-celled organisms only.
Q7
easy
The cell wall of a fungus is made mainly of which substance?
  1. A Starch
  2. B Chitin
  3. C Calcium carbonate
  4. D Cellulose
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Correct answer: B - Chitin

Fungal cell walls are built of chitin, and that is one of the features separating fungi from plants, whose walls are made of cellulose. Calcium carbonate forms the internal skeleton of echinoderms such as the starfish, and starch is a stored food rather than a wall material.
Q8
hard
Assertion (A): If fungi disappeared from a forest, the soil would gradually become less fertile. Reason (R): Fungi break down dead leaves and dead organisms into simpler substances that enter the soil as minerals.
  1. A Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
  2. B Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
  3. C A is true, but R is false
  4. D A is false, but R is true
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Correct answer: A - Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A

(A) is true: without decomposers the decay of dead plants and animals would slow sharply and soil fertility would fall. (R) is true as well, and it is the reason, because it is this breaking down that returns minerals to the soil. The reason therefore explains the assertion directly.

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