The Five Kingdoms:

The general characteristics of the Five kingdoms are as follows:

1. Kingdom Monera:
2. It includes Prokaryotic organisms i.e. they are made of prokaryotic cells
3. Monerans are unicellular, although some types form chains, clusters, or colonies of cells.
4. Prokaryotic cells are radically different from eukaryotic cells.
5. Most are Heterotrophic but some perform Photosynthesis because they have chlorophyll in their cytoplasm.
6. Within this Kingdom there are two vastly different kinds of organisms i.e. Archaebacteria and Eubacteria. Many biologists believe that these two groups should be considered separate Kingdoms.
7. Kingdom Protista:

It includes Eukaryotic unicellular and simple multicellular organisms. There are three main types of Protists:

1. Algae are unicellular, colonial, or sometimes simple multicellular. They resemble plant cells with cell walls and chlorophyll in chloroplasts. Simple multicellular means that they do not have multicellular sex organs and do not form embryos during their life cycles.
2. Protozoans resemble animals whose cells lack chlorophyll and cell walls.

Some Protists are like the Fungi

• Kingdom Fungi:

It includes Eukaryotic multicellular reducers for example mushrooms. Fungi are Heterotrophic organisms that are absorptive in their nutritional mode. Most Fungi are decomposers. They live on organic material, secrete digestive enzymes, and absorb small organic molecules formed by the digestion of enzymes.

 

   

• Kingdom Plantae:

It includes Eukaryotic multicellular Autotrophs. Plants are autotrophic in nutritional mode. Making their food by photosynthesis they have multicellular sex organs and form embryos during life cycles.  Mosses, Ferns, and flowering plants are included in this Kingdom.

• Kingdom Animalia:

It includes Eukaryotic multicellular consumers. Animals live mostly by ingesting food and digesting it within specialized cavities. They lack cell walls and show movements.

Note:

Biologists believe that Kingdom Protista evolved from Monera and then it gave rise to the other three Eukaryotic Kingdoms i.e. Fungi, Plantae, and Animalia.