Chapter 1: The Living World
50 sample The Living World flashcard questions and answers for NEET-UG Biology - Class 11, laid out as a readable study sheet. Read them straight on this page, print them, or save them as a PDF using your browser's print dialog.
Showing 50 of 123 questions in this chapter — practice online or download the PDF above for the full deck.
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| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What is biology? | Biology is the science of life forms and living processes. |
| What does the living world comprise? | The living world comprises an amazing diversity of living organisms. |
| What distinction could early man easily perceive? | Early man could perceive the difference between inanimate matter and living organisms. |
| Name some inanimate objects deified by early man. | Wind, sea and fire. |
| What common feature was shared by many animate and inanimate objects for early man? | They evoked a sense of awe or fear. |
| What systems developed from the systematic description of life forms? | Systems of identification, nomenclature and classification. |
| What was the biggest spin-off of studies on living organisms? | Recognition of similarities shared among living organisms horizontally and vertically. |
| What revelation led to movements for conservation of biodiversity? | That all present-day living organisms are related to each other and to all organisms that ever lived on Earth. |
| What central question of evolutionary biology did Ernst Mayr emphasize? | The origin of species diversity. |
| What important biological concept did Ernst Mayr pioneer? | The currently accepted definition of a biological species. |
| Name the three major biology prizes awarded to Ernst Mayr. | Balzan Prize (1983), International Prize for Biology (1994), and Crafoord Prize (1999). |
| What happens to the variety of organisms when the observation area increases? | The range and variety of organisms increase. |
| Why would a dense forest contain more kinds of organisms? | Because dense forests have a greater number and kinds of living organisms. |
| What does each different kind of plant, animal, or organism represent? | A species. |
| How many species are known and described according to the text? | Between 1.7 to 1.8 million species. |
| What is biodiversity? | The number and types of organisms present on Earth. |
| What continues to happen as new and old areas are explored? | New organisms are continuously identified. |
| Why do local names of plants and animals create confusion? | Because local names vary from place to place, even within a country. |
| Why is there a need to standardise the naming of living organisms? | So that a particular organism is known by the same name all over the world. |
| What is nomenclature? | The process of standardising the naming of living organisms. |
| What is identification in biology? | Correctly describing an organism and knowing to which organism the name belongs. |
| What is the role of scientists in scientific naming? | They establish procedures to assign scientific names to organisms. |
| What does ICBN stand for? | International Code for Botanical Nomenclature. |
| What does ICZN stand for? | International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. |
| Why are scientific names important? | They ensure each organism has only one universally accepted name. |
| What are the two components of a scientific name? | Generic name and specific epithet. |
| What is Binomial nomenclature? | A system of naming organisms using two components. |
| Who introduced binomial nomenclature? | Carolus Linnaeus. |
| What is the scientific name of mango? | *Mangifera indica*. |
| In which language are biological names generally written? | Latin. |
| How are biological names written in print? | In italics. |
| How are biological names written when handwritten? | The two words are separately underlined. |
| Which part of a biological name begins with a capital letter? | The genus name. |
| Which part of a biological name begins with a small letter? | The specific epithet. |
| In biological nomenclature, how does the genus name begin? | With a capital letter. |
| In biological nomenclature, how does the specific epithet begin? | With a small letter. |
| Give an example illustrating genus and specific epithet formatting. | *Mangifera indica*. |
| Why is classification necessary? | Because it is nearly impossible to study all living organisms individually. |
| What is classification? | The process by which anything is grouped into convenient categories based on easily observable characters. |
| What is the scientific term for categories used in classification? | Taxa. |
| What do taxa represent? | Categories at different levels. |
| Give examples of taxa mentioned in the text. | Plants, animals, mammals, dogs, wheat, rice, and cats. |
| What does the example of dogs and mammals show about taxa? | Taxa can exist at different hierarchical levels. |
| What is taxonomy? | The process of classification of living organisms into different taxa based on characteristics. |
| Which features form the basis of modern taxonomic studies? | External and internal structure, cell structure, developmental process, and ecological information. |
| Which four processes are basic to taxonomy? | Characterisation, identification, classification, and nomenclature. |
| On what basis were the earliest classifications made? | Uses of various organisms. |
| What is systematics? | The branch of study dealing with different kinds of organisms, their diversities, and relationships among them. |
| What title did Linnaeus use for his publication? | *Systema Naturae*. |
| What was later included in the scope of systematics? | Identification, nomenclature, and classification. |
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