Lecture 1:What is living;Diversity in the living world

Some of the properties of tissues are not the constituents of its cells.
Give three examples to support the statement.

What is the similarity and dissimilarity between “whole moong daal”
and “broken moong daal” in terms of respiration and growth? Based on
these parameters classify them into living or nonliving?

Do you consider a person in coma-living or dead?

Metabolism is a defining feature of all living organisms without exception.
Isolated metabolic reactions in vitro are not living things but surely living
reactions. Comment.

A student of taxonomy was puzzled when told by his professor to look
for a key to identify a plant. He went to his friend to clarify what ‘Key’ the
professor was refering to? What would the friend explain to him?

What are taxonomical aids? Give the importance of herbaria and
museums. How are Botanical gardens and Zoological parks useful in
conserving biodiversity?

A scientist has come across a plant which he feels is a new species. How
will he go about its identification, classification and nomenclature.

What is meant by living? Give any four defining features of life forms.

The number and kinds of organism is not constant. How do you explain
this statement?

Properties of cell organelles are not always found in the molecular
constituents of cell organelles. Justify.

A plant may have different names in different regions of the country or
world. How do botanists solve this problem?

What is the difference between flora, fauna and vegetation? Eichornia
crassipes is called as an exotic species while Rauvolfia serpentina is an
endemic species in India. What do these terms exotic and endemic refer to?

How do you prepare your own herbarium sheets? What are the different
tools you carry with you while collecting plants for the preparation of a
herbarium? What information should a preserved plant material on the
herbarium sheet provide for taxonomical studies?

A plant species shows several morphological variations in response to
altitudinal gradient. When grown under similar conditions of growth,
the morphological variations disappear and all the variants have common
morphology. What are these variants called?

International Code of Botanical nomenclature (ICBN) has provided a code
for classification of plants. Give hierarchy of units of classification
botanists follow while classifying plants and mention different ‘Suffixes’
used for the units.

In a given habitat we have 20 plant species and 20 animal species. Should
we call this as ‘diversity’ or ‘biodiversity’? Justify your answer

A ball of snow when rolled over snow increases in mass, volume and
size. Is this comparable to growth as seen in living organisms? Why?

Define metabolism.

What is a Monograph?

Couplet in taxonomic key means ________________ .

What does ICZN stand for?

Linnaeus is considered as Father of Taxonomy. Name two other botanists
known for their contribution to the field of plant taxonomy?

What effect does this condition have on pregnancy?

Which hormones could be decreased by this condition?

On an educational trip to Uttaranchal, Ketki and her friends observe
that people in many localities have swollen necks. Please help Ketki and
her friends to find out the solution to the following questions:
a. Which disease are these people suffering from?

Differentiate between pectoral and pelvic girdle.

Discuss the role of Ca2+ ions in muscle contraction. Draw neat sketches
to illustrate your answer.

Explain the mechanism of breathing with neat labelled sketches

What is erythropoiesis? Which hormone stimulates it?

d. Lymphocytes

c. Neutrophils

b. Globulin

State the functions of the following in blood.
a. Fibrinogen

Plant growth substances (PGS) have innumerable practical applications.
Name the PGS you should use to
a. Increase yield of sugar cane
b. Promote lateral shoot growth
c. Cause sprouting of potato tuber
d. Inhibit seed germination

Fill in the places with appropriate word/words.
a. A phase of growth which is the maximum and fastest is __________.
b. Apical dominance as expressed in dicotyledonous plants is due
to the presence of more ________ in the apical bud than in the
lateral ones.
c. In addition to auxin, ________ must be supplied to culture medium
to obtain a good callus in plant tissue culture.
d. ________ of a vegetative plants are the sites of photoperiodic
perception.

The cytoplasm in a plant cell is surrounded by both cell wall and cell
membrane. The specificity of transport of substances are mostly across
the cell membrane, because __________.

Why are living organisms classified?

What are the three codes of nomenclatures?

Name the highest categories of classification?

“Botanical gardens are living herbaria”. Comment ?

What is meant by identification of a species?

Who gave binomial name of classification?

Give the unit of classification?

What is Binomial system of nomenclature? Who proposed this system? Why is
binomial nomenclature the most acceptable mode of naming organism?

What is Binomial system of nomenclature? Who proposed this system? Why is
binomial nomenclature the most acceptable mode of naming organism?

What is Biological classification? What is the need of classification?

Name the guidelines for naming of organisms?

Differentiate between species & taxon?

What are the advantages of giving scientific names of the organisms?

Write the correct order of sequence of taxonomical categories?

Can you identify the correct sequence of taxonomical categories?

(a) Species → Order → Phylum → Kingdom

(b) Genus → Species → Order → Kingdom

(c) Species → Genus → Order → Phylum

Define a taxon. Give some examples of taxa at different hierarchical levels.

Given below is the scientific name of Mango. Identify the correctly written name.

Mangifera Indica

Mangifera indica

What different criteria would you choose to classify people that you meet often?

Why are living organisms classified?