Major groups of eukaryotes: animals, plants, fungi and protists, plus prokaryotes.
Traditional five kingdoms: Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, Animalia. Modern groups such as Chromista, Archaeplastida and Opisthokonta are used in many schemes. Protista is not a clade.
Kingdom schemes change with new evidence. Fungi, plants and animals each form monophyletic groups; protists don't.
Key idea: classification schemes reflect current knowledge of evolution.
Major groups of eukaryotes: animals, plants, fungi and protists, plus prokaryotes.
Kingdoms is one of the 52 topics in Taxonomy & Biodiversity. It is rated Beginner, so it suits learners who are starting out in biology. Related topics in this area include Phylogenetic Classification, Linnaeus, Taxonomy.
Fungi are closer to animals than to plants.
Kingdoms is a Beginner topic, so no earlier topic is required. Other Beginner topics in Taxonomy & Biodiversity that pair well with it include Taxonomy, Binomial Nomenclature, Taxonomic Hierarchy.
The closest topics to Kingdoms are Phylogenetic Classification, Linnaeus, Taxonomy, Monophyletic Groups. Comparing them side by side is a good way to see how the ideas connect.
Read the summary and the in-depth section, then use the quick check on the interactive lesson for Kingdoms. To practise the whole of Taxonomy & Biodiversity, use the Taxonomy & Biodiversity quiz.
Kingdoms: Major groups of eukaryotes: animals, plants, fungi and protists, plus prokaryotes. Phylogenetic Classification: Groups organisms by evolutionary relationships so that taxa reflect common ancestry. Read both side by side and note what each one explains.
First, read the summary and write the definition in your own words. Second, read the in-depth section and note any example. Third, compare it with Phylogenetic Classification and explain the difference aloud. Finally, take the Taxonomy & Biodiversity quiz and come back to this page for any question you miss.
Groups organisms by evolutionary relationships so that taxa reflect common ancestry.
🗂️ Taxonomy & BiodiversityCarl Linnaeus, the 18th-century Swedish scientist who established the modern hierarchical classification system.
🗂️ Taxonomy & BiodiversityThe science of naming, describing and classifying organisms.
🗂️ Taxonomy & BiodiversityA group containing an ancestor and all of its descendants, called a clade.
🗂️ Taxonomy & Biodiversity