Question

Four kingdom classification was proposed by
A. Whittaker
B. Copeland
C. Haeckel
D. Linnaeus

Answer 1

Hint: An American botanist who contributed to the theory of biological kingdoms which depends upon the differentiation of the classes of the bacteria and the blue-green algae.

Complete answer:
Herbert Faulkner Copeland (1902- 1968) proposed the four kingdom classification in 1956. The four kingdoms were Monera, Protista, Plantae, and Animalia.

Additional information
- He grouped unicellular organisms into two large kingdoms: the Monera kingdom and the Protista kingdom.
- In 1966, he included bacteria and one of the most primitive algae, called blue- green algae, under the Monera kingdom.
- The kingdom Monera consists of unicellular organisms.
- The kingdoms Protista, Plantae, and Animalia are the eukaryotic organisms.
- The fungi were placed in the kingdom Plantae which was one of the drawbacks of the four kingdom classification.
- Later kingdom fungi were added by R. H. Whittaker and he proposes the five- kingdom classification.
- The four kingdoms were possible because of the development of the electron microscope.
- Electron microscopes revealed important distinctions between those unicellular organisms whose cells do not have a distinct nucleus (prokaryotes) and those unicellular and multicellular organisms whose cells do have a distinct nucleus (eukaryotes).

So, the correct answer is ‘Copeland’.

Note: In biology, the kingdom is the second highest taxonomic rank, just below domain. Karl Linnaeus introduced the rank- based system of nomenclature into biology in 1735. After this several classification systems proposed, they are two- kingdom classification (Plantae and Animalia by Aristotle), three kingdom classification (Plantae, Animalia, and kingdom Lapidenum by Linnaeus), three kingdom classification (Plantae, Animalia, and Protista by Antoine van Leeuwenhoek), four kingdom classification by Copeland and five- kingdom classification by Whittaker.