1.

The Living World

1.1 What is Living?

1. Which one of the following aspects is an
exclusive characteristic of living things?
(Mains 2011)
(a) Isolated metabolic reactions occur in vitro
(b) Increase in mass from inside only
(c) Perception of events happening in the
environment and their memory.
(d) Increase in mass by accumulation of material
both on surface as well as internally.
2. The living organisms can be unexceptionally
distinguished from the non–living things on the
basis of their ability for
(2007)
(a) interaction with the environment and
progressive evolution
(b) reproduction
(c) growth and movement
(d) responsiveness to touch.
3. Biological organization starts with… (2007)
(a) cellular level
(b) organismic level
(c) atomic level
(d) submicroscopic molecular level.
1.2 Diversity in the Living World
4. Select the correctly written scientific name of
Mango which was first described by Carolus
Linnaeus. (NEET 2019)
(a) Mangifera Indica
(b) Mangifera indica Car. Linn.
(c) Mangifera indica Linn.
(d) Mangifera indica
5. Which of the following is against the rules of
ICBN? (Odisha NEET 2019)
(a) Hand written scientific names should be
underlined.
(b) Every species should have a generic name
and a specific epithet.
(c) Scientific names are in Latin and should be
italicized.
(d) Generic and specific names should be
written starting with small letters.
6. Nomenclature is governed by certain universal
rules. Which one of the following is contrary to
the rules of nomenclature?
(a) The names are written in Latin and are
italicized.
(b) When written by hand the names are to be
underlined.
(c) Biological names can be written in any
language.
(d) The first word in a biological name
represents the genus name and the second is a
specific epithet. (NEET–I 2016)
7. ICBN stands for (2007)
(a) International Code of Botanical
Nomenclature
(b) International Congress of Biological Names
(c) Indian Code of Botanical Nomenclature
(d) Indian Congress of Biological Names.
8. Biosystematics aims at (2003)
(a) the classification of organisms based on
broad morphological characters
(b) delimiting various taxa of organisms and
establishing their relationships
(c) the classification of organisms based on their
evolutionary history and establishing their
phylogeny on the totality of various parameters
from all fields of studies
(d) identification and arrangement of organisms
on the basis of their cytological characteristics.
9. The book 'Genera Plantarum' was written by
(a) Engler and Prantl (b) Bentham and Hooker
(c) Bessey (d) Hutchinson (1999)
10. Linnaeus is credited with
(a) binomial nomenclature
(b) theory of biogenesis
(c) discovery of microscope
(d) discovery of blood circulation. (1993)
11. Linnaeus evolved a system of nomenclature
called
(a) mononomial (b) vernacular
(c) binomial (d) polynomial (1990)
12. The term "New Systematics" was introduced by
……… (1988)
(a) Bentham and Hooker (b) Linnaeus
(c) Julian Huxley (d) A.P. de Candolle.
1.3 Taxonomic Categories
13. Match column I with column II for housefly
classification and select the correct option using
the codes given below. [NEET-II 2016]
Column - I Column - II
A. Family (i) Diptera
B. Order (ii) Arthropoda
C. Class (iii) Muscidae
D. Phylum (iv) Insecta

(a) A–(iii), B–(i), C–(iv), D–(ii)

(b) A–(iii), B–(ii), C–(iv), D–(i)
(c) A–(iv), B–(iii), C–(ii), D–(i)
(d) A–(iv), B–(ii), C–(i), D–(iii)
14. The common characteristics between tomato
and potato will be maximum at the level of their
(Karnataka NEET 2013)
(a) family (b) order
(c) division (d) genus.
15. Which one of the following organisms is
scientifically correctly named, correctly printed
according to the International Rules of
Nomenclature and correctly described?
(a) Musca domestica – the common house lizard,
a reptile
(b) Plasmodium falciparum – a protozoan
pathogen causing the most serious type of
malaria.
(c) Felis tigris – the Indian tiger, well protected
in Gir forests.
(d) E.coli full name Entamoeba coli, a commonly
occurring bacterium in human intestine.
(Mains 2012)
16. Which one of the following animals is correctly
matched with its particular taxonomic category?
(a) Tiger tigris, species
(b) Cuttlefish mollusca, class
(c) Humans – primata, family
(d) Housefly – Musca, order (2011)
17. Species are considered as
(a) real basic units of classification
(b) the lowest units of classification
(c) artificial concept of human mind which
cannot be defined in absolute terms
(d) real units of classification devised by
taxonomists. (2003)
18. Which of the following is less general in
characters as compared to genus?
(a) Species (b) Division
(c) Class (d) Family (2001)
19. 'Taxon' is the unit of a group of
(a) order (b) taxonomy
(c) species (d) genes. (1996)
20. Sequence of taxonomic categories is (1992)
(a) class–phylum–tribe–order–family–genus–
species
(b) division–class–family–tribe–order–genus–
species
(c) division–class–order–family–tribe–genus–
species
(d) phylum–order–class–tribe–family–genus–
species
21. The term phylum was given by (1992)
(a) Cuvier (b) Haeckel
(c) Theophrastus (d) Linnaeus
22. A group of plants or animals with similar traits
of any rank is (1992, 1991)
(a) species (b) genus
(c) order (d) taxon.
23. A taxon is ………. (1992, 1990)
(a) a group of related families
(b) a group of related species
(c) a type of living organisms
(d) a taxonomic group of any ranking.
24. Basic unit or smallest taxon of taxonomy/
classification is………… (1996)
(a) species (b) kingdom
(c) family (d) variety.
25. Static concept of species was put forward by
(a) de Candolle (b) Linnaeus
(c) Theophrastus (d) Darwin. (1988)
1.4 Taxonomical Aids
26. Match the items given in column I with those in
column II and select the correct option given
below. (NEET 2018)
Column - I Column - II
A. Herbarium (i) It is a place having a collection
of preserved plants and animals.
B. Key (ii) A list that enumerates
methodically all the species found
in an area with brief description
aiding identifi–cation.
C. Museum (iii) Is a place where dried and
pressed plant specimens mounted
on sheets are kept.
D. Catalogue (iv) A booklet containing a list of
characters and their alternates
which are helpful in identification
of various taxa.

A B C D
(a) (i) (iv) (iii) (ii)
(b) (iii) (ii) (i) (iv)
(c) (ii) (iv) (iii) (i)
(d) (iii) (iv) (i) (ii)
27. The label of a herbarium sheet does not carry
information on (NEET–II 2016)
(a) date of collection (b) name of collector
(c) local names (d) height of the plant.
28. Which one of the following is not a correct
statement? (NEET 2013)
(a) A museum has collection of photographs of
plants and animals.
(b) Key is a taxonomic aid for identification of
specimens.
(c) Herbarium houses dried, pressed and
preserved plant specimens.
(d) Botanical gardens have collection of living
plants for reference.
29. One of the most important functions of botanical
gardens is that (2005)
(a) they provide a beautiful area for recreation
(b) one can observe tropical plants there
(c) they allow ex situ conservation of germplasm
(d) they provide the natural habitat for wild life.
30. In the taxonomic categories which hierarchical
arrangement in descending order is correct in
case of animals? (NEET 2022)
(a) Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family,
Genus, Species
(b) Kingdom, Class, Phylum, Family, Order,
Genus, Species
(c) Kingdom, Order, Class, Phylum, Family,
Genus, Species
(d) Kingdom, Order, Phylum, Class, Family,
Genus, Species