The Five Kingdoms

All living things can be grouped into five categories. This is called the five kingdom proposal and was introduced by Robert Whittaker in 1968 as a way to categorise all organisms.

Living organisms are divided into five kingdoms:

• Prokaryotae
• Protoctista
• Fungi
• Plantae
• Animalia

Prokaryotae

• Unicellular and Microscopic.
• Non-membrane bound (no nuclear membrane, no ER, no mitochondia).
• Cell wall made of murein.
• Examples: Bacteria or Cyanobacteria (photosynthesising bacteria).

Protoctista

• Mainly small eukaryotic organisms.
• Many live in aquatic environments.
• This is usually the kingdom where organisms which aren’t animals, plants or fungi go.
• Examples: Algae, slime moulds and the malaria causing Plasmodium.

Fungi

• Eukaryotic
• Multicellular
• Cell wall made of chitin.
• The members of this kingdom don’t possess photosynthetic pigments and are therefore heterotrophic.
• Examples: Mushroom, Mold, Puffball

Plantae

• Eukaryotic
• Multicellular
• Cell wall made of cellulose.
• Members of the plantae group contain photosynthetic pigment and gain their energy through it and are therefore autotrophic.

Animalia

• Eukaryotic
• Multicellular
• Heterotropic
• The members of this kingdom can be split into two groups, vertebrates and invertebrates. The diagram below shows the different subsections of the animalia

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